Manchester City have dismissed claims of Mario Balotelli being out for an extended amount of time.
After arriving at Eastlands from Inter Milan amid a huge fanfare, Balotelli's £24million move to the Premier League has so far fallen flat.
Injured on a goalscoring debut against Timisoara last month, Balotelli was sent back to Italy to begin rehabilitation after a knee operation that City hoped he would be back from within a couple of months.
Yet sources in Italy earlier this week claimed the damage was more extensive than City initially thought and that Balotelli would not be ready to play for another 10 weeks at best.
However, now back in Manchester, Balotelli is apparently on course to return exactly as scheduled, with coach Brian Kidd completely bemused about where the revised comeback date had emerged from.
"There is nothing sinister in this," countered Kidd.
"Mario has had the operation, he has come back and is now on with his rehabilitation.
"Wherever these other rumours are coming from, they are nonsense."
