Kevin De Bruyne is a key player in the Manchester City squad and somebody the Sky Blues want to keep for the rest of his career, but David Ornstein of The Athletic says he’s yet to put pen to paper on an extension which raises uncertainty over his long-term future.
Where will Manchester City finish this season?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Despite City’s ‘attempts to extend’ his contract, there has been ‘no breakthrough negotiations’, so the 29-year-old will leave the club in 2023 as things stand. City want to tie down their best players for the peak years of their careers but don’t want to agree extortionate pay rises.
De Bryne has made 250 appearances in all competitions for the Sky Blues since joining from Vfl Wolfsburg in 2015, scoring 60 goals and supplying 105 assists (Transfermarkt). The Belgian international is one of the best playmakers in Europe, so City can’t be without him, but the lack of progress in contract talks is an issue.
De Bruyne will be 31 in two years, so he’ll be far from finished as a footballer. City have handed new long-term deals to Ilkay Gundogan, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte since 2019, so they’ll be confident the midfielder is next.