Pep Guardiola spoke to the press on Friday afternoon and of course, Kevin De Bruyne’s recent Man City announcement was his first talking point.
Shortly before Pep Guardiola sat down to speak to the press ahead of Manchester City’s game at Manchester United on Sunday, Kevin De Bruyne announced the news that everyone had been thinking he might do at some point this year.
De Bruyne announced that he’ll leave Man City in the summer after a successful and stunning 10 year spell at the club following his 2015 move from Wolfsburg, with the 33-year-old winning an incredible 16 titles including six Premier League titles with Man City.
It comes after what’s been a turbulent season for De Bruyne who will surely admit that he’s not been anyway near his best, with just two goals and six assists in his 20 Premier League appearances in 2024/25 so far.
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not De Bruyne would stay or leave the Etihad this summer but now it’s confirmed that he’s leaving, and it’s prompted a huge response from the entire footballing community.
What Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne spoke about before Man City announcement
Speaking to the press, Pep revealed that he and De Bruyne had a conversation before De Bruyne announced that he’ll be leaving Man City in the summer. And the City boss revealed that De Bruyne now ‘feels ready’ after suffering with other ‘problems’ after the hamstring issue which he had surgery to repair in August 2023.
Pep told the media: “What is important is that he feels good right now. We spoke recently, lately, that he had problems but now he feels, finally, because after surgery in hamstring he had problems in other parts of the body, but now he feels ready.
“The decision is made, and of course all of us wish him, [his wife] Michelle, the kids, mum and dad, absolutely the best.”
Reports this week have revealed that De Bruyne has interest from four clubs ahead of the summer with Saudi Arabian side Neom SC having already been in talks with the Belgian over a possible summer move.
How many days Kevin De Bruyne has missed through injury at Man City
Over the course of his 10 year stay in Manchester, De Bruyne has racked up an incredible 413 total appearances for Man City, with 106 goals and an outrageous 174 assists for the club, with his 118 Premier League assists only bettered by Ryan Giggs.
Hamstring surgery in August 2023 saw De Bruyne miss 36 games that season, and 151 days of action. In total, De Bruyne missed 620 days of action through injury since arriving at the Etihad in 2015.
The 2018/19 and 2023/24 seasons he barely played because of injury but the rest of the time, De Bruyne was almost always available barring little niggling injuries here and there.
Now that he’s feeling back to his best in terms of fitness, we might yet see De Bruyne go somewhere in the summer and have a bit of a revitalisation after what’s been a tricky season in the Premier League.
