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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola remained coy about whether Kevin De Bruyne’s will sign an extension to his expiring contract.
Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne (AP)
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City face an almost impossible job in replacing Kevin De Bruyne thanks to the impact the Belgian has made over the past 10 years.
De Bruyne has won six Premier League titles among 13 major trophies since joining City in 2015, a year before Guardiola’s arrival.
The 33-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has previously hinted he could be tempted by the riches on offer in the Saudi Pro League.
“I would like to have a 23 year-old Kevin and sign a contract for 10 more years,” Guardiola said on Friday.
“There are players that impact the legacy of this club and will be there forever.
“It’s not easy (to replace), but in the moment it’s going to happen we’ll see.”
De Bruyne was instrumental to City snapping a seven-game winless run by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday in his first start for nearly three months.
Guardiola has been cautiously managing the playmaker’s minutes but conceded he may be pressed into selecting De Bruyne again for Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace due to an injury crisis.
“We don’t have many players so we’ll see,” added Guardiola.
“Important (to have him) back but after a long time. (Now we play) three days, three days, three days, we’ll see how does he react to this amount of games.”
Guardiola has other injuries to contend with as he confirmed that Nathan Ake will miss Saturday’s game. The Netherlands international has played eight games in all competitions this season due to a hamstring injury, and was helped off late in Wednesday’s win with a fresh concern.
The manager was also waiting on the fitness of fellow defender Manuel Akanji who came off at halftime against Forest.
Phil Foden will also miss his second successive game with bronchitis.
City’s poor form has seen the champions tumble down to fourth in the Premier League standings, nine points behind leaders Liverpool and two behind Chelsea and Arsenal.
One of the positives to come out of Wednesday’s win was the performance of Jack Grealish in a central midfield role. He recorded a pass accuracy rate of 98% on the night.
“He has attributes to play there,” Guardiola said.
However, the manager added that Grealish and all the players were struggling with fitness amid an intense schedule.
(With inputs from Agencies)
