Benjamin Mendy has started pre-season early, and he has posted updates on social media of his fitness work in the gym.
Manchester City are due to report back to the Etihad this week for the start of pre-season, although the senior squad will be relatively thin given most of their first-team players are still on holiday following their Euro 2020 and Copa America exploits.
The plan was for a number of youth players to step up to senior training in the first few weeks of pre-season, however a number of positive Covid cases among the academy has seen the club shut part of the training ground.
That will disrupt pre-season plans somewhat, but the hope is that by enacting a circuit-breaker now, the club can suppress the spread of the virus among academy players and staff, and also ensure there is no chance of cross-contamination for the first team.
So the plan remains for Pep Guardiola and his players to report to the City Football Academy on Monday, with Mendy set to be one of the early returners after a summer without any international football.
Mendy had another difficult season last term, with Joao Cancelo and Aleks Zinchenko moving ahead of him in the left-back hierarchy.
Cancelo is also likely to get a full pre-season under his belt, but with Kyle Walker on holiday, he might get a chance to impress at right-back.
That will leave Mendy with an early opportunity to stake his claim again on the left, with friendlies against Preston, Troyes and then the Community Shield scheduled before the Premier League opener in a month.
So it's encouraging to see Mendy working hard in the gym ahead of his return, even working out to get up to fitness on his birthday on Saturday.
Mendy has been linked with a summer exit from the Etihad, especially if City need to raise funds to sign a big name forward, so his latest posts show he looks ready to fight for his place again when pre-season training begins.
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