Vincent Kompany looks no closer to ending the miserable spell of injuries which has seen him miss much of the last 18 months for club and country, with the Belgian national team withdrawing him from duty against Estonia.
The City skipper has reportedly suffered a recurrence of the groin injury that has disrupted his career for the past six months, according to the Manchester Evening News, as Red Devils manager Roberto Martiinez confirmed his absence from the squad for Sunday's 2018 World Cup qualifier.
Kompany missed Wednesday's 1-1 draw with rivals Holland after he was pulled out of the starting line up at the last moment, with Martinez refuting suggestions that the centre back had picked up a knock ahead of the encounter.
MartÃnez: "@VincentKompany & @mousadembele are out for Estonia." #belest #tousensemble
However, the Spaniard revealed that Kompany, as well as Tottenham's Mousa Dembele, will be unavailable for selection for the Group H clash with Estonia at the Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels.
The groin strain in the latest in a series of setbacks for Kompany as the defender struggles to consistently put a run of games together for either club or country. Since December 2014, the 29-year-old has been plagued by hamstring, calf and groin problems that have seen him miss a staggering 60 matches for Manchester City in the past two years.
Citizens boss Pep Guardiola had questioned whether Kompany now had a mental block when it came to declaring himself fit to play ahead of October's Champions League defeat to Barcelona.
Back then Guardiola said: "What happened in the last two years I don't know. We are working on that with the doctors. So I thought two or three days ago for Camp Nou, maybe for his personality, maybe he can do that. But one day after, in the training session, he said: ˜I didn't feel like this [good].'
"In that moment, when his head is not ready and with what happened in the last two years, it is better to stay out. I don't want to put a lot of pressure about how many games we want him to play or set big, big targets.
"So it's just try to train good and after a week of training no injuries, we'll play a game, and after that another one. And after that we'll see. But I think when he's trying to play one game and after another one, he'll take a lot of confidence. Maybe he'll be able to play a few games."
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