Chelsea travel to Manchester City this Saturday for a crunch fixture in the Premier League.
Man City host Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow evening, which is a match between fifth and fourth in the division table.
There’s potential good news for the Blues ahead of the weekend’s away trip. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said Levi Colwill and Enzo Fernandez may be available to return from injury as long as they successfully get through Friday’s training session.
Meanwhile, opponents Man City are missing several important first-team stars right now. They’ll be reeling from a 4-2 defeat in midweek to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stages, too.
Vitor Reis could make Manchester City debut vs Chelsea
Man City have heavily reinforced their squad in the January transfer window so far with new defenders Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, plus attacker Omar Marmoush.
Pep Guardiola has confirmed via Man City’s official website that centre-back Ruben Dias is unavailable for the Chelsea match due to injury. On top of that, he added that all three new signings may be in the squad to face the Blues.
Guardiola was also asked whether new arrivals Reis, Khusanov and Marmoush could be included in the matchday squad tomorrow. He replied: “Yes. They can play, but I don’t know yet. We don’t have players.”
Khusanov has arrived from the French league, while Marmoush joins from huge success in the German top division. However, Reis is a slightly different proposition.
At the age of 19, Reis is still at the very infancy of his senior career. The Brazilian teenage centre-half only played 22 first-team games for Palmeiras before completing his £30m move (BBC) to the Etihad Stadium.
Reis was a teammate of Estevao Willian at Brazilian giants Palmeiras, who makes his own move to English football later in 2025 when he arrives at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea wonderkid Estevao is ready for the Premier League, so it’ll be interesting to see whether Reis is thrown into the deep end in Manchester.
It certainly wouldn’t be ideal for Man City to throw Reis in for a debut against Chelsea, but it looks like there’s a chance because of their shortage in defence.
Chelsea were interested in Vitor Reis
Rumours last September claimed that Chelsea were interested in signing Reis when he was at Palmeiras, along with Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Barcelona.
However, Man City won the transfer race for the South American defender in this January window.
The 19-year-old centre-back is clearly a major talent for the future, but it would be a huge first test for him in European football if he lines up against the likes of Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson on Saturday.
