Manchester City news: Vincent Kompany fears for future after being axed from squad for Barcelona game
VINCENT KOMPANY’S Manchester City future is in fresh doubt after it emerged he was AXED from the squad in Barcelona.
The club captain failed to even make the bench and team-mate Kevin De Bruyne said: “That was Pep’s choice. He must have had his reasons.”
Defender Kompany, 30, had made his return from injury in the 1-1 draw with Everton last weekend.
But he was unable to help his Manchester City colleagues as they crashed 4-0 at the Nou Camp, making it FOUR successive games without a win.
Young full-back Pablo Maffeo, 19, was named among the subs — leaving Kompany worried his days at City could be numbered.
The Belgian injured his groin at the end of a comeback game at Swansea last month, having previously been out for five months.
He came on as a sub against Everton but was asked to play as a striker as City chased a winner.
The Nou Camp snub came on the same day that City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano confirmed they had enquired about Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci in the summer. While the Serie A club turned that down, boss Pep Guardiola is expected to spend heavily on his defence next summer.
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That is likely to spell bad news for City’s iconic skipper who has lifted the Premier League trophy twice at the Etihad.
Guardiola has been ruthless with the club’s old guard — with Joe Hart already gone and Yaya Toure frozen out.
Pablo Zabaleta is likely to follow them — with an Inter Milan delegation keen to step up talks over a deal. But City sources insist there is no concern over Sergio Aguero’s future — despite him being a sub on Wednesday — and that an announcement is imminent on him extending his contract to 2020.
De Bruyne was asked to play up front instead at the Nou Camp and said: “I’m not used to playing it, I did it a couple of times.
“Obviously it’s not my best position but I’ll do what the coach asks me to do and do my job.”
And he vowed City will not change their football philosophy despite their poor run.
KDB added: “People can say whatever they want, this is the way we need to play and we will win a lot of games like this.”
After being on the receiving end of Lionel Messi’s 37th hat-trick for Barcelona, Soriano vowed City would try to sign the Argentine superstar — should he ever become available.
He said: “Messi is the best player in the world. If one day he wants to come to City, we would open the doors wide for him.
“But the natural thing for Messi is to finish his career in Barcelona.
“We haven’t made any offers to any Barcelona players.”
More likely is a swoop for Monaco right-back Fabinho, 22.
City are ready to do battle with Manchester United for the Brazilian as Guardiola looks to revamp his back line.
He plans to recruit FOUR new full-backs having seen his side keep just three clean sheets in 14 matches.