Manchester City fans are facing the prospect of Kevin De Bruyne leaving the club next summer.
The Belgian is into the final year of his contract, and speculation was rife about his future in the last transfer window.
De Bruyne was a target for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.
In the end, De Bruyne opted against leaving, and it is thought the player will hold talks with the club in due course.
But that does not necessarily mean he will extend.
De Bruyne has been injured for the past few weeks and the team have felt his absence a little. While Pep Guardiola’s side remain unbeaten, City have at times had trouble breaking teams down.
If De Bruyne does leave next summer, the club will face a real challenge to replace him.
But there might just be one player emerging who could step into the maestro’s shoes.
Man City target Florian Wirtz has had brilliant start to 2024/25
Manchester City are reported to have the most concrete interest in Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen at the moment.
The German attacking midfielder was one of the stars of Bayer’s title-winning season in 2023/24, and this term he has pretty much picked up where he left off.
So far, Wirtz has made 11 appearances for Xabi Alonso’s side. He has scored six goals – four in the Bundesliga and two in the Champions League – and made two assists so far.
He grabbed his second assist of the season at the weekend against Eintracht Frankfurt, crossing from the right side for Victor Boniface.
Hugo Viana could find Man City’s new Kevin De Bruyne in Wirtz
Next summer will be a fascinating window, as it will be the first for new director of football Hugo Viana, who is replacing Txiki Begiristain.
Viana will likely already have a shortlist of players drawn up, and many will hope that Wirtz is on it.
The 21-year-old is looking like the real deal for Bayer and very possibly, he could make a worthy replacement for De Bruyne.
De Bruyne is an incredible player with one of the best eyes for an assist we have ever seen. So replacing him will be far from easy.
But in Wirtz, Manchester City would find someone with impressive output. He is more of a goal threat than De Bruyne, with 47 goals in 153 appearances for Bayer. But he’s also very creative, having racked up 52 assists in total as well.
| Kevin De Bruyne for Man City (23/24) | Florian Wirtz for Bayer Leverkusen (23/24) |
| Appearances – 23 | Appearances – 38 |
| Minutes played – 1516 | Minutes played – 2754 |
| Goals – 4 | Goals – 14 |
| Assists – 15 | Assists – 15 |
| Goals per 90 – 0.24 | Goals per 90 – 0.46 |
| Assists per 90 – 0.89 | Assists per 90 -0.49 |
| Shot-creating actions per 90 – 7.36 | Shot-creating actions per 90 – 6.30 |
At the weekend, we saw City have trouble breaking Wolves down in the absence of De Bruyne. Had the Belgian played, it might have been a different story.
If he is no longer in the picture for 2025/26, then Wirtz – dubbed ‘an outstanding technician’ by Hansi Flick – might just be the ideal replacement given his fantastic numbers in recent times.
De Bruyne leaving would see City lose a huge amount of output, and Wirtz is undoubtedly a player who is all about that.
Certainly, Viana could do a lot worse than to make Wirtz his first signing.
