Manchester City teenager Liam Delap poised to make Premier League debut

Growing injury list means 17-year-old could play against Leicester on Sunday

Manchester City's Liam Delap, left, vies with Bournemouth's Jack Simpson during the League Cup third round match. AFP

Teenager Liam Delap could be parachuted in for a Premier League debut against Leicester on Sunday as Manchester City will spend the next month of their season without a senior specialist striker after Gabriel Jesus joined Sergio Aguero on the sidelines.

The Brazilian’s muscle injury rules him out of Premier League clashes with Leeds, West Ham and Arsenal and the start of the Champions League, creating an unexpected opportunity for the 17-year-old Delap.

Aguero has not featured since undergoing knee surgery in June but while he has been out for longer than originally anticipated, the Argentinian could return in time for the meeting with champions Liverpool, scheduled for November 7.

Manager Pep Guardiola is likely to use Raheem Sterling, City’s 31-goal top scorer last season, as a false nine in the absence of City’s record scorer and his regular understudy.

But Delap, the son of former Stoke midfielder Rory, has propelled himself into contention after scoring on his City bow against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

“We don’t have Sergio. We don’t have Gabriel. We have Liam,” said Guardiola. “Gabriel has the injury against Wolves so will be out for one month. Sergio is running a bit but could not make one training session with us. Hopefully in one month he comes back. But we have many options.”

Guardiola named 18-year-old Cole Palmer among them while he has previously used Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Kevin de Bruyne as false nines and suggested Ilkay Gundogan could play as one.

The German has been sidelined by Covid-19 while the injured Portuguese missed the trip to Molineux but Mahrez played against Bournemouth after recovering from coronavirus.

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Today’s game will be a reunion with his former club for the Algerian, who was named PFA Player of the Year for his part in Leicester’s shock title win in 2016.

“Riyad is an exceptional player,” Guardiola added. “I know how important he is for the quality of the passes and especially his mentality. He is aggressive to score goals.”

Mahrez scored 25 times in his first two seasons, even if he was sometimes overshadowed by De Bruyne, Sterling and Aguero. City's problem at a time when their squad is stretched, and when Guardiola has had just 13 first-team players, is not of quality, but quantity.

“We have an exceptional squad,” the manager added. “The injured guys will be back, some of them earlier than the other ones but I am not going to think for one second why these players who are not there.”

And yet the crowded fixture list makes absentees more likely. Silva and Joao Cancelo were both hurt playing for Portugal and Guardiola said: “We had three players come back from the international teams. We cannot control this. They let them play without preparation two games in three or four days. They are not machines and sometimes the muscles fall down.”

Normally, they would have had more conditioning before their first game of the campaign, but as Guardiola said: “The pre-season now is one week or two weeks and then you have to play every three days for 11 months. Before it was completely different.

“But every association - the Premier League, Uefa, Fifa, Carabao Cup – defend their own business and their position. International teams need to play games for qualification for the European Championships and the World Cup. They need the players. Now the situation is exceptional. Everyone understands that. It is what it is.

“It is an exceptional situation for everyone, for the restaurants, for the theatres, for the cinemas, for the museums, for the shops.” And, in a very different way, for Liam Delap.