Man City injury crisis could hand unexpected opportunity to forgotten first-team player

When the Manchester City squad was announced for last week’s trip to Sporting Lisbon, fans, concerned about the players currently at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, fervently checked to see who had made the journey to Portugal.

Erling Haaland was there despite a brief injury scare in that morning’s training session, Nathan Ake was selected after being replaced late on against Bournemouth, while Ruben Dias, John Stones and Jack Grealish again missed out. In truth, it was of little surprise. But there was one notable inclusion that slipped somewhat under the radar given the intrigue surrounding the injury outbreak at City.

The club selected an image of Kyle Walker at the top of the announcement article, with the City skipper flanked by Josh Wilson-Esbrand, the forgotten defender of Guardiola’s squad.

The 21-year-old has been listed on City’s website as a first-team player for several years and the 2024/25 campaign is the fourth in which Wilson-Esbrand has been in and around the senior set-up. He’s a name fans know well but have seen precious little of lately.

That’s mainly due to injury and loans. Both dominated last season for Wilson-Esbrand, who spent time at Ligue 1 side Reims in the first half of the campaign before switching to Cardiff City on transfer deadline day in January. Sadly, his stint in Wales proved to be a short one as injury curtailed the season.

He was still feeling the effects of that hamstring issue at the start of the summer as City flew to the USA to play four pre-season friendlies. Wilson-Esbrand featured in each one, starting three and showing some signs of regaining his fitness after a turbulent few months. 

However, a fresh hamstring problem sustained in the final game of the summer tour was far from an ideal ending to what had been an encouraging off-season. It prevented any possible exit in the final weeks of the transfer market and denied Pep Guardiola another option in defence.

Reports over the summer had even suggested the City boss was working specifically with Wilson-Esbrand, who joined the club’s youth ranks from West Ham United in 2019, on his defensive positions and how to transition into midfield.

That he spoke of giving advice to City’s youngsters during the club’s time in the States was an indication Wilson-Esbrand is very much a first-team player, one who could now prove a useful option. Guardiola was without four defenders in last week’s defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion, while Kyle Walker is struggling with his own fitness issues and Rico Lewis looks in need of a rest.

The need for rotation and extra bodies has never felt greater during Guardiola’s time at the club - there are currently 12 injury and fitness concerns - and Esbrand-Wilson’s timely return at the very least will provide an alternative off the bench in the latter stages of games. “Josh just wants to do his best to get back to full fitness now,” a source close to the player told Manchester World.

Having recovered from his hamstring issue, the City youth-team graduate started at left-back in two 5-0 wins for the Under-21s in recent weeks and was on the bench for the senior side in both the Sporting and Brighton games.

There’s no pretending Wilson-Esbrand is Guardiola’s silver bullet here, but a player schooled in City’s methods and experienced working with the squad should also not be sniffed at. Nor should progressing through the ranks of City’s illustrious academy, or earning England Under-21s caps. He is also, technically, a Champions League winner, having played in two matches during City’s winning run in 2022/23.

There’s a dearth of accomplished left-backs in this City squad, again something Wilson-Esbrand offers, and over the coming weeks it’s likely he’ll add to his three previous appearances for City , the last of which came over two years ago. 

From there, who knows? Could a run of decent performances convince Guardiola to hold onto him in January? Time will tell. For now, the City boss is simply worried about naming a full matchday squad. Wilson-Esbrand’s return will certainly help on that front.