Kevin De Bruyne signed a new contract at Manchester City in 2021 – and many players have apparently been copying the midfielder’s negotiation strategy.
The Belgian maestro penned fresh terms at the Etihad, taking him up until the summer of 2025, with Txiki Begiristain saying at the time: “His performance level has been remarkably consistent since coming to City, and in the last few years he has developed into one of the game’s elite players.”
De Bruyne has been a truly outstanding player for City since his move to the club in 2016.
His £55 million price tag raised the eyebrows of a few pundits, but he very quickly proved to be a bargain.
De Bruyne – who is about to return from injury for City – has been one of the top players in the game for the past few years now.
His numbers, particularly for chances created and assists, are remarkable and De Bruyne used a deep dive on his own data as a negotiating tactic when it came to getting his new deal at City.
Players are following Kevin De Bruyne’s tactics to get new contracts
The Athletic have published an interesting report about De Bruyne and what he did to bag himself a new contract at the Etihad Stadium that was reflective of his worth.
Interestingly, De Bruyne negotiated without a recognised football agent. Instead, he reportedly used two respected lawyers and called on several leading football analytics service providers to provide context around his numbers – one of which was a company called Analytics FC.
That company were able to provide De Bruyne with ‘ground-breaking data analysis to solidify his value to the club’, and this is something more players are now doing to get new contracts.
It is stated that ‘word has spread’ about De Bruyne’s deep dive into his own data to prove his worth to City.
Apparently, other players in England and across Europe, both in the men’s and women’s game, are going to the company to get data.
De Bruyne shouldn’t have needed to do a data deep dive to get big Man City contract
It’s always somewhat surprising to consider that De Bruyne did this to secure himself a big new contract at City.
One would have thought that the Belgian had proved himself worthy of a top new deal, but seemingly City needed some convincing, with The Athletic reporting that the club’s ‘initial contract offer was worth less over the course of the mooted new deal than his previous one had been’. Clearly, the negotiation process is very complex.
It is therefore understandable that other players have been going to Analytics FC to get their data.
If the company helped De Bruyne – one of the best players in the world and someone branded as ‘outstanding’ by Virgil van Dijk – to land a huge new deal, then there is bound to be trust from other players.
