Guardiola spoke with Mendy for late arrival after attending boxing event

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke to Benjamin Mendy for arriving late the morning after he attended British boxer Anthony Joshua's technical knockout victory over Alexander Povetkin at Wembley last Saturday.

Mendy has missed four matches heading into this weekend's visit from Brighton & Hove Albion due to a metatarsal issue in his left foot, and was due in on Sunday morning to work on his fitness. The popular left-back was subjected to a long spell on the sidelines last season with an ACL injury.

"He was injured six, seven months last season. Now he's injured again. Every day he's having treatment," Guardiola said at Friday's press conference, according to Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News.

"He arrived late, that happens sometimes, in the last period a lot have arrived late because of the traffic. Manchester is under construction, the players arrive late. They have to drop their kids at school ... They should be here and he knows it. I spoke with him."

Mendy's future at the club is now uncertain after he was apparently three hours late for his rehabilitation, according to ESPN FC's Mark Ogden. Guardiola had reportedly grown tired of Mendy's behavior before this incident, with the £52-million recruit recently being hit with a 12-month driving ban for accumulating 24 points on his license after failing to respond to police regarding four separate speeding offenses.

Mendy and Kevin De Bruyne are unavailable for this Saturday's match against Brighton. Guardiola didn't confirm whether November was a realistic estimate for the latter's return.