MANCHESTER CITY boss Pep Guardiola confirmed that Ruben Dias could be back and available for his side’s game against Brighton tonight.

While Kyle Walker remains absent, Dias and Kevin De Bruyne are eligible to return to the City squad for the match.

“Ruben trained really good today and today but it's been seven weeks off,” Guardiola said. “Ruben is a guy who knows his body, his tempo and we are more than delighted he’s back.”

The Blues manager added that he thinks he could be fit to play a full 90 despite having spent seven weeks away from the team:“Doctors told me between six and eight weeks. Now it is seven so we are within that margin.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t have any doubts that when he’s fit he will be in a good point. At the end he’s 23 years old, he’s so young so it’s not a problem.”

In Dias’s absence, Nathan Ake has stepped up to fill the gap in the defence and Guardiola is pleased with how he has played.

He said: “He’s so reliable, especially when you behave in your life like him he always will do good. In the bad phases always helping, he’s an exceptional person. His mother and his father in heaven have to be so proud.”

Despite reports from the Daily Mail on Tuesday which said that the Blues had agreed terms with Erling Haaland for a €500,000 a week deal, Guardiola refused to comment on any speculation.