Pep Guardiola has played down the suggestion that Benjamin Mendy has been left out of the Manchester City side in recent weeks due to a disciplinary issue, but confirmed that he "spoke with" the left-back after turning up late for training last Sunday.
Mendy has missed the past four City games with a bruised metatarsal, although some suspicion was aroused given Guadiola had initially claimed the Frenchman was suffering with a knee injury.
Goal revealed in August that Mendy had been fined for being late to training ahead of the season opener with Arsenal, and that Guardiola had made him move out of Manchester city centre to limit the number of off-field distractions available to him.
There have been further concerns about his behaviour away from the pitch and it appears that he has fallen foul of Guardiola again, with ESPN reporting that Mendy was three hours late to a rehabilitation session on Sunday.
Mendy attended Anthony Joshua's world title boxing match against Alexander Povetkin at Wembley on Saturday night. Sources have told Goal that it is common for him to be the last player to arrive for meetings and training sessions.
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Guardiola was evasive when he was asked about the issue, and did not criticise his player in public, but did confirm he was late and did stress that it should not become a habit.
"He arrived late, that happens sometimes, in the last period a lot have arrived late because of the traffic," the City boss contested. "Manchester is under construction, the players arrive late. They have to drop their kids at school."
It was put to Guardiola that the schools were closed on Sunday and that traffic would be lighter than usual, to which he said: "They should be here and he knows it. I spoke with him.
"I expect him back when he's fit. Now he's injured, it's not a problem with physical condition, he's quick. He's injured and when he's ok he's coming back and when he decides to play he's going to play."
