De Bruyne was forced to leave the pitch during City’s defeat of Tottenham on Saturday, which returned Pep Guardiola’s side to the top of the table.
Liverpool moved back ahead of City into first the following day with a 2-0 win at Cardiff.
Guardiola immediately ruled De Bruyne, who has struggled with injury problems all season, out of Wednesday evening’s Manchester derby, and it appears he now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.