Kevin De Bruyne has been included in Manchester City’s roster for the Club World Cup, which will take place in Saudi Arabia later this month. However, the Belgian will not be participating on the field.

After their Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Saturday, December 16, City will travel to the Gulf state. On Tuesday, December 19, they will play in the semi-final in Jeddah against either Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan or Club Leon of Mexico. On Friday, December 22, there will either be a final or a play-off between third and fourth place.

Since sustaining a hamstring injury on the first day of the season and requiring surgery, De Bruyne has not appeared in any games for City. Pep Guardiola declared lately that his captain will not be coming back until January.

There were expectations that the 32-year-old would make an early return after being named in City’s 23-man squad for the Club World Cup. However, the Manchester Evening News has confirmed that De Bruyne will go with the team and play as a club captain, but he won’t be well enough to participate in either game.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, De Bruyne stated that he didn’t anticipate returning until January, and a few weeks ago, Guardiola provided a similar update.

Guardiola remarked, “If he said January, it will be January.” “I would have loved to have him all season but now he has tough injury and surgery and he said end of December or New Year, so it will be a happy New Year for everyone.”

Ederson, Stefan Ortega, Scott Carson, Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Sergio Gomez, Rico Lewis, Rodri, Kalvin Phillips, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland, and Mateus Nunes are the members of the City squad for the Club World Cup.