Man City boss Pep Guardiola sets Gary Lineker straight over Kevin De Bruyne claims

Pep Guardiola hit out at the suggestion that he has a problem with Kevin De Bruyne as he waits for the star midfielder to return to his best.

De Bruyne has not started for Manchester City since picking up an innocuous injury in September that ended up keeping him out for nine weeks. Even since he has returned to matchday squad, none of his five appearances have been before the 68th minute and at Anfield as he was waiting to come on Liverpool scored their second goal that effectively killed the game.

The lack of minutes for De Bruyne led many leading pundits to suggest that Guardiola was doing it because he had a problem with the player. Micah Richards spoke of a 'rift' between them, Gary Lineker suggested 'all's not well', Jamie Carragher said 'something is going on' and Gary Neville called the situation 'bizarre'.

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Guardiola had not been asked about the topic in the first 20 minutes of his press conference ahead of the Nottingham Forest game when he raised the issue himself to put the record straight. "People say I’ve got a problem with Kevin. Do you think I like to not play with Kevin?," he raised before adding sarcastically: "'No, I don’t want Kevin to play. The guy who has the most talent in the final third, I don’t want it. I have a personal problem with him after nine years together.'"

He continued: "He’s delivered to me the biggest success to this club. But he’s been five months injured and two months injured. He’s 33 years old. He needs time to find his best. Like last season, step by step. He’ll try to do it and feel better."