Manchester City injury news: Yaya Toure withdraws from Ivory Coast squad with recurrence of heel injury

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has withdrawn from the African Nations Cup qualifiers with a recurrence of his heel injury. The 32-year-old has not played for his country since winning the cup last year and this international break was set to accomplish a much anticipated return for the Ivory Coast international.

The Daily Mail reports that the midfielder felt there was a problem with his heel during City's 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at the Etihad and will look to be fit for their Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain after the international break. Toure missed City's 3-0 loss to Liverpool and the stalemate against Norwich earlier this season due to injury. He has also missed a series of qualifiers and the recent setback has further pushed his return to play for his national team.

The report states that he has considered retiring from international football in entirety, but is now looking forward to winning his second African Cup of Nations trophy on the trot and playing in his fourth successive World Cup campaign in Russia in 2018. Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping his injury is not too serious and that he will be back playing for the Citizens in the Premier League after the break as they look to secure a top four spot, with their position under threat after the recent setback.

Meanwhile, City are looking forward to the return of Kevin de Bruyne, who is expected to be available after the international break. His arrival comes at an opportune time for City, who have lost Raheem Sterling and Joe Hart in the Manchester derby and are a bit short on the player count with the business end of the season upon them.

Vincent Kompany is also out of contention, along with Nicolas Otamendi, something which had a major part to play in the Citizens' capitulation against Manchester United last weekend. Martin Demichelis was all over the place and United winger Jesse Lingard revealed that the Red Devils specifically targeted the Argentine's lack of pace for the winner.