Kevin de Bruyne will be out for three months because of a knee injury.
The Belgium international and Manchester City midfielder, was substituted in the second-half of Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Arsenal.
He suffered the injury in training on Wednesday, City say De Bruyne, has a lateral collateral ligament lesion in his right knee but does not need surgery.
De Bruyne was City’s player of the season last term, scoring 12 goals and providing 21 assists as his side won the Premier League and EFL Cup.
City boss Pep Guardiola said, “He will be a big miss,” he helped Belgium finish third at the World Cup in July, the country’s best-ever finish at the tournament.
“It is not easy to replace Kevin, we are going to try and do our best without him and try to be there by the time he returns”, guardiola added.
De Bruyne is likely to miss league games against Liverpool (7 October), Tottenham (28 October) and Manchester United (11 November), and the opening Champions League group games.
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