Aymeric Laporte could be out of action for Manchester City until February after surgery on his knee problem.
That was confirmed by Blues manager Pep Guardiola at Friday's press conference ahead of the Norwich game - but there was better news on John Stones .
Laporte was injured against Brighton two weeks ago and has since flown to Barcelona for surgery.
Guardiola was asked about the injury for the first time since it was diagnosed, and when quizzed about how long the French star will be out, he replied: "Long. Five months, six months. Next year for sure, January, February," he said.
Stones has not played for five weeks after picking up a thigh injury, but has been working hard at the training ground.
Guardiola said: "He trained good," and when asked if he has a chance of being involved tomorrow, he said: "Yep".
His fitness became more important when Laporte damaged his knee meniscus against Brighton and was ruled out until 2020.
With Vincent Kompany leaving in the summer, that means City's complement of central defenders is down to just Stones and Nicolas Otamendi
The Argentina stopper returned early from international duty last weekend through an arrangement with his country's FA and should be ready to play.
Guardiola has already earmarked Fernandinho as a potential centre back.
Mendy has not played since the 4-3 Champions League win over Tottenham in April, but he hinted before the international break that he would be ready to begin his return to action this weekend.
The manager confirmed that he is back in the running, saying: "He is good. I'm delighted, the last two, three weeks he has been training regularly with us, everything is going well, the knee is reacting well, he will back in the next few games."
