It depends on their heads – Guardiola wary of mental strain on Man City stars

Pep Guardiola will take the mental health of his international stars into consideration as Manchester City prepare for a quick turnaround into the new season.

The Premier League champions went down to a 1-0 Community Shield defeat against Leicester City on Saturday, their former striker Kelechi Iheanacho coming off the bench to win and convert a late penalty at Wembley.

Guardiola remained without Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ederson and Gabriel Jesus after their respective runs to the finals of Euro 2020 and the Copa America with England and Brazil.

The sextet will return to training on Monday, while Kevin De Bruyne is still on the mend after an ankle injury sustained during Belgium’s progress to the quarter-finals of the European Championship.

Aymeric Laporte – a Euros semi-finalist with Spain – must self-isolate until the middle of next week because a passenger on his flight back to the United Kingdom after a vacation tested positive for COVID-19. The defender has tested negative.

It adds up to a far-from-ideal preparation for next weekend’s league opener at Tottenham, a fixture likely to be lent a tempestuous edge by City’s pursuit of Harry Kane.

Nevertheless, Guardiola knows a return to peak physical fitness will come in time, even though he again took aim at scheduling arrangements by UEFA and FIFA in his post-match comments at Wembley.

The former Barcelona boss is more concerned about the mental strain endured by players who have been on a near non-stop schedule since returning to action from the coronavirus lockdown last June.

Asked whether his England players would benefit from being afforded an extra week of rest, he replied: “It depends on their heads. They have to rest and now they can be ready, but it depends on here [the head].

On whether his returning internationals would be ready to play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Guardiola replied: “A few players get the condition so quick, others need a little more time. We will see the weight, the body fat, how they arrive. And especially their heads.

“There are players who play three, four or five days and their mentality is positive and they are ready to fight and suffer in the bad conditions. Some of them take a little more time.

“We will try to discover which ones are ready immediately.”

Foden is unlikely to be among that group, given he must still recover from the foot injury that ruled him out of England’s penalty shoot-out loss to Italy.

Stones was an ever-present at centre-back for Gareth Southgate’s side, while Sterling and Walker were each named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament.

“All of them, they played really well. I’m glad and happy for them. They have had many years together,” Guardiola said.

“They made an incredible achievement. When you achieve a final in the Euro it’s a big, big thing.

“They have to be so proud of what they have done with the national team. The benefits to the confidence will be there.

“But the past is the past. What you have done with the national team is for the memories. The challenge is ahead of us to do a good season.”