Fernando injury free ahead of new campaign

Manchester City midfielder Fernando hopes to have a greater impact in the coming campaign after returning to pre-season training injury free.

The Brazilian midfielder struggled to reach the heights expected of him at the Etihad Stadium last season after his arrival from Porto, despite making 25 league appearances.

With Fabian Delph arriving at City to provide further competition for places in Manuel Pellegrini’s side, the pressure is on Fernando to justify his £12million price tag.

“It was a very difficult year but I’m very optimistic about the start of the new season and I want to get going as quickly as possible,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

“For me the thing about last season was that I played a lot of the games with pain. That limited my capabilities. Now I feel 100 per cent fit and I’m just looking forward to getting going again.

“The problem I had last year was the groin. Every time I ran it was painful.

“When you get into a big team with such an opportunity you want to give your best. That’s what I tried to do last season. 

“Obviously it didn’t go very well for me because of the pain but I’m looking forward to giving my best again now.”