Manchester City have been forced to cancel their second of two pre-season friendlies after newly-enforced restrictions from the UK government made their trip to Troyes unworkable.
The Blues were due to head to their French sister club on Saturday July 31 in what was being treated within the club as more than just a fixture to get some minutes in the legs of the players; while Pep Guardiola would have appreciated that against decent opposition - especially after the problems with their friendly next week - there were various meetings planned between executives for City to meet their counterparts in person for the first time since the Ligue 1 outfit were bought by the City Football Group.
Those plans have now been shelved after a surprise decision from the UK government without warning at the weekend to enforce a five-day quarantine on anybody returning from France with immediate effect. City explored a number of options to try to get the friendly on including playing the game in Manchester, but were forced to accept defeat and delay their first meeting with their latest sister club.
There are no plans to schedule any games in its place, throwing Guardiola's pre-season plans into a bigger mess.
There is less than a full team training at the City Football Academy this week with the club's youngsters forced to stay away after a Covid outbreak on a pre-season camp last week. They may have to be thrown straight into the fixture against Preston on Tuesday given the number of senior stars still absent, and then there are no more games until the Community Shield at Wembley on August 7.
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