Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that he is "working on" getting more out of crocked skipper Vincent Kompany following his latest injury setback.
The 30-year-old sparked fresh fears over his long-term fitness last week when pulling out of Belgium's friendly with the Netherlands after picking up an unspecified problem during the pre-match warm-up.
Kompany, given just 79 minutes of playing time under Guardiola in the Premier League this term as a result of his string of injury issues, could now be back in contention to feature against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
"We are working on [Kompany's fitness]," he told reporters. "I spoke to Roberto Martinez, the Belgium national coach, on that. Vincent was ready to play the first game, but he did not feel so comfortable so that is why Vincent decided not to play that game. He came back.
"He is training good. We are working on him being free in his mind - the muscular issue is much better. He is close to helping us and we are working on recovering the best Vincent as possible."
As well as getting the most out of the club captain, Guardiola also intends to continue pushing summer signing John Stones all the way in the hope of turning him into one of the world's best central defenders, despite being criticised by Glenn Hoddle this week for being 'too nice' to the youngster.
"I agree with him," he added. "I'm so nice with him! So nice! With John, you cannot forget, he's 21, 22 years old. In his career, he only played one game a week and now he plays three games a week in places like the Nou Camp against Lionel Messi.
"For the international team, he didn't play one minute at the European Championships, now he plays 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes. And of course he has to improve, but not now at the beginning."
Stones has featured more prominently for the Citizens this term, starting 14 games for the Premier League title chasers in all competitions.
