De Bruyne on the way back

KEVIN De Bruyne hopes to return to action with Manchester City after the current international break.

The Belgium forward suffered knee ligament damage and a sprained ankle during City’s Capital One Cup semi–final against Everton on January 27. His return will give City a major lift at a critical stage of their season - especially since Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart and Raheem Sterling have been added to ther injured list.

“The injury is going good,” said De Bruyne. “I am training very well and thinking I’m ahead of schedule, so I am looking to be back after the international break. It looks like I’m a couple of weeks ahead.”

City have won the Capital One Cup and reached the Champions League quarter–finals in De Bruyne’s absence, but the £54million record signing has been badly missed. Without him City have fallen off the pace in the prmier league title race.

City trail Premier League leaders Leicester by 15 points, which seems an insurmountable gap even if they have eight games remaining compared to the Foxes' seven. Their next game is at Bournemouth on April 2.