Pablo Zabaleta out a month for Manchester City with knee injury

Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta will have to wait even longer to return to action this season after the club confirmed the Argentine has picked up a knee injury in training, set to keep him out for around a month.

The Argentina worldwide, 30, has not yet played this season after being granted time off following the Copa America and injured himself in training this week.

Zabaleta’s absence leaves Bacary Sagna as the only experienced option for the right-back position for their upcoming games in the domestic league.

The £8 million signing from Aston Villa suffered a hamstring injury 17 minutes into his first appearance in a City shirt, the 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid in Melbourne.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side has made an impressive start to the season, beating West Brom and Premier League champion Chelsea 3-0.

City bolstered their squad on Thursday by signing Zabaleta’s worldwide team-mate Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia.

Manchester City have been dealt a blow with news that defender Pablo Zabaleta has been ruled out for one month. I think he will be a very important player for our team.

He added that at the moment through with the form that Kompany and Mangala are in, they are the first choice still and he’s delighted that we are defensively in a “good moment” ourselves having kept clean sheets and he hopes that will continue.

He said: “The window closes on September 1”.

“I don’t talk about rumours”, he said.