Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed French midfielder Rayan Cherki has been ruled out for two months through injury.
The 22-year-old signed in June for an initial fee of £30.45m from Ligue 1 side Lyon and scored on his Premier League debut in a 4-0 win at Wolves, before starting the loss to Tottenham last weekend.
Cherki was absent on Sunday when City were handed their second loss in a row with a 2-1 defeat at Brighton.
Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike will take Cherki’s place in Didier Deschamps’ France squad for September’s World Cup qualifiers.
According to a post from France’s official X account, Cherki has a “quadriceps tear”.
The injury means he will miss the first Manchester derby of the new campaign on Sunday, 14 September.
Cherki was in the Lyon side beaten by Manchester United 5-4 in an enthralling Europa League encounter.
After joining City, he said he wanted to “kill” Manchester United when he next faced them.
“I [didn’t] like [it] when Manchester United won the game against Lyon because I am a Lyonnais,” said Cherki. “Now I am waiting for the game [to] kill them.”