Vincent Kompany injury: Manchester City captain out for four months and will miss the start of Pep Guardiola's reign

The defender has undergone groin and thigh surgery

Vincent Kompany flew to Barcelona on Thursday to see a specialist about his latest injury setback (Getty)

Vincent Kompany will miss the start of Pep Guardiola’s reign as Manchester City manager after being ruled out for four months following groin and thigh surgery.

The City captain flew to Barcelona on Thursday for an operation after limping out of the club’s Champions League semi-final defeat against Real Madrid after just six minutes 24 hours earlier.

Despite initial optimism that the 30-year-old would be fit in time to take part in Belgium’s Euro 2016 campaign, Kompany issued a statement on his Facebook page in Saturday evening to confirm that he would miss the tournament in France.

And Belgian national team physiotherapist Lieven Maesschalck has now revealed that the full extent of the injury means that Kompany will be sidelined until September.

“Vincent Kompany is out for 4 months,” Maesschalck said. “But he will come back."

Kompany, who has suffered a series of muscle injuries in recent months, had only just returned from a lengthy calf injury ahead of the Real clash.

But with the centre-half understood to have suffered a torn thigh as well damage to the groin in his right leg, Kompany now faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation over the summer.

His lay-off means that incoming manager Guardiola will be forced to plan for life without Kompany for the first month of the 2016-17 campaign.

And the severity of Kompany’s injury now increases the likelihood of City pursuing defensive targets John Stones and Aymeric Laporte this summer.