MELBOURNE City star Aaron Mooy remains in doubt for Saturday’s clash against his former club Western Sydney due to cracked ribs.

City officials claimed that Mooy was an 11th hour withdrawal from last Saturday’s draw with Sydney FC due to a hip injury, but News Corp Australia can reveal that Mooy busted several ribs three weeks earlier.

Ivan Franjic (corked thigh) and Erik Paartalu (groin) are also no guarantee of returning for the crunch game against the A-League leaders and must first prove their fitness.

Sydney FC became aware of Mooy’s issue in the lead up to last Saturday’s clash and had planned to physically target him during the game.

The Socceroo did light work during the week and avoiding contact drills at training in a bid to be fit but was ruled out at the last minute.

Mooy’s injury occurred in the 59th minute of the 4-0 win at Newcastle Jets when he slid in to finish Ivan Franjic’s cross and crashed into Mark Birighitti’s shins in the follow through.

Suspecting merely a bruise, Mooy played on but physically struggled in the next two games against Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar before opting for scans after relatively sub-par performances.

The results confirmed that he had four fractured ribs.

City declined to comment on the Mooy injury revelation but coach John van’t Schip said he was still sore on game day.

media_camera Aaron Mooy is doubtful for this weekend’s vital clash.

“Aaron yesterday got a little hit and reported some soreness and this morning it didn’t improve so we had to take the decision because it’s a very busy schedule and there’s a lot of games still to come that we wouldn’t risk him for this game,’’ van’t Schip said after the Sydney FC draw.

“Ivan was struggling all week with the cork. He tried (on Friday) but we had to rule him out.

“It was tough with five different players in from last week and missing some players that didn’t pass a fitness test.’’

Franjic copped a corked thigh after a collision with Dimi Petratos last week, while Paartalu felt his groin at training the day before the Sydney FC clash.

Midfielder/right-back Paulo Retre will return from suspension but City has lost midfielder Stefan Mauk, who has departed for Dubai to join the Olyroos ahead of their Rio 2016 qualifiers in Qatar.