Kevin De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola
Kevin De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola admits replacing Kevin De Bruyne will be one of Manchester City's toughest tasks.
De Bruyne is out of contract at City in the summer and the Belgium star says he has shelved talks over a possible new deal while he builds up his match fitness after injury.
De Bruyne, 33, is wanted by David Beckham’s MLS side Inter Miami and he is understood to be open to a move to America. Guardiola has cast doubt on his City future and he does not feel he will want to stay at the Etihad if he is not the Blues’ main man and he has been restricted to just five Premier League starts this season. The City boss joked he wished De Bruyne was 10 years younger and says replacing him when the time comes will not be easy.
“Yeah, there are those players,” he said. “The impact of their legacy on this club will be eternal, it will be forever and, of course, that means it is not easy.
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“But, of course, we as a club, we have to find in the moment it’s going to happen, we have to find the best way. I would like to have a 23 years old sign and him sign a contract for 10 more years. So this is what I would like, but we’ll see.”
Guardiola claims he cannot give an update on De Bruyne’s future because he is not involved in contract talks between the playmaker and the club. He is more concerned about managing his return to full match fitness after he sparkled in City’s midweek home win over Nottingham Forest, which ended their run of seven games without a win.
Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, gives instructions to Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne has rarely started this term - but may play on Saturday
He is expected to start De Bruyne at Crystal Palace on Saturday, partly because Phil Foden is still out with bronchitis.
“We don’t have many players, so we’ll see,” said Guardiola. “But yeah, it’s important he’s back. But, you know, it’s every three days, three days, three days. We’ll see. We’ll see how does he react to this amount of games.”
Guardiola also revealed that Nathan Ake will be out through injury after coming off against Forest and that Manuel Akanji was doubtful. Guardiola also bigged up Jack Grealish, who impressed in his more central role against Forest, even though he has not scored since last December. “
Yeah, he played really good,” he said. “I’m so happy for him, for the team, and, yeah, hopefully he can be fit in the next game.”
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