Pep Guardiola is left fuming after Kyle Walker returned from England duty with a knee injury as he takes aim at his international counterparts

Pep Guardiola took aim at a lack of communication with international managers after Manchester City captain Kyle Walker returned from England with a knee injury.

Walker is due for scans on the problem picked up during England’s 3-1 Nations League victory in Finland and will miss Wednesday’s Champions League match against Sparta Prague.

Guardiola is still annoyed that John Stones had a kidnapping problem at the end of last season – after friendlies in March in which Walker also returned injured – and criticized the likes of ex-England boss Gareth Southgate for choosing not to reflect on their club’s views counterparts to ask.

“When I was a player, the national team manager would call the clubs, now no one talks,” Guardiola said. ‘[About] how they feel, how they are. Maybe the physios talk, but the managers never. In the first or second season with Gareth, yes, but not now.

‘I have never been as angry as I was at that moment [in March]. Never before have I been so disappointed. It was a friendly match and we played the quarter-finals against Real Madrid and to win the Premier League. For a friendly match, for two players who return injured. No, no, no. I didn’t like it at all.’

Stones was benched without prospects for crucial games against Arsenal and Aston Villa, with City appearing to believe they could solve the problem.

But his fitness never recovered and after two starts Stones suffered a flare-up and was unable to fully contribute to their lead in successive Trebles. Guardiola appeared to suggest that the centre-back should take his own well-being into his own hands during his absence in England.

“I always encourage them to go to the national team, but if it’s a friendly match you can’t come back injured, I’m sorry,” the Catalan added. ‘If you are focused, if it is a friendly match, you cannot come back injured when you play the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

‘We are paid well here. The club pays us, not the national teams. Sometimes you have to respect the clubs. You cannot get injured in friendly matches. You can absolutely play, but you can’t come back injured.”

While Guardiola claimed that Dutch head coach Ronald Koeman keeps in touch regarding fitness through their pre-existing relationship, the former Barcelona and City teammates have also had ongoing problems with Nathan Aké’s injury record while away from Manchester.

Aké had played three minutes of football before a hamstring injury after two starts during the September international break forced him out of action for more than two months.

Kyle Walker returned from the recent England international matches with a knee injury

‘Nathan was injured the last two times for the national team. It happens. But Josko [Gvardiol] We can’t play all the minutes, we need Nathan. Otherwise we cannot compete to the end.

‘Nowadays I think the most important thing in modern football is not training, but being fit and no injuries. If you get injured, you lose eight games. Muscular, you lose eight games. No injuries is the only reason you can arrive at the end of the season.

‘That’s why you have to be so careful. I pray they are fit. If they are out for a month and a half, there is no solution.’

City are also without long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb. Kevin De Bruyne has started training, but is expected to miss Sparta.