Now that Euro 2024 is over, the transfer rumour mill is in overdrive, and there is growing speculation that long-serving Belgian star Kevin de Bruyne may be lured away from Manchester City, leaving Pep Guardiola furiously looking for players who can possibly fill the void that would be created by the talented playmaker’s potential Etihad Stadium exit.
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33-year-old De Bruyne did not have the best of times during the 2024 UEFA European Championships, and the same can be said of his team-mates. Perhaps the fact that the goal-scoring midfielder has achieved all he can possibly achieve at Manchester City could be a factor in a potential departure.
He is heavily linked with a move to Saudi Arabian Pro League side Al-Ittihad, with an offer of astronomical proportions having already been reportedly agreed between the player and the club.
Al-Ittihad have previously managed to lure huge talents in the past, and the club’s current squad includes the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho, and this level of talent may help persuade the Man City man to make such a move.
It is worth noting that De Bruyne has just a year to run on his current contract, and as such, any big money move that can be made now will help avert a free transfer a year from now and help Man City stay on track in terms of the Premier Leagues PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules).
By all accounts, Man City keeper Ederson is also being strongly drawn to a move to Saudi Arabia and the possibility of losing two talents as big as these would hit Pep Guardiola very hard indeed.
Kevin De Bruyne moved to Manchester City in 2015, and he has played 383 games for the club, scoring 102 goals, leading the team to six Premier League titles, two FA Cup wins, five EFL Cup triumphs and, of course, the UEFA Champions League in 2022/23. In other words, he is near irreplaceable.
The names mentioned in terms of potential replacements include German wonderkid Jamal Musiala, Benfica’s Joao Neves, PSG’s Xavi Simons, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, who had a standout campaign in 2023/24.
In all honesty, of those four, it’s only Jamal Musiala who could be considered a player who has proven himself to be anywhere near capable of replacing Kevin De Bruyne, and one can only imagine just how much Bayern Munich would demand in return for the 21-year-old.
The young German international grew up in England and is a former England Under-21 star who has already racked up over 150 appearances for Bayern Munich and, incredibly, already has four Bundesliga titles to his name.
He is a mainstay in the national team set-up and the kind of player that scares the life out of defences, and the amount the Allianz Arena side would demand would surely make him the most expensive signing in Premier League history, and then there’s the question as to whether he’d want to move back to England anyway.
Either way, Pep Guardiola has a number of summer headaches to recover from ahead of the new campaign, which may well see Manchester City’s lengthy run of success come to a shuddering halt.
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