Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne grew up supporting Liverpool.
Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has told Het Laatste Nieuws that he is waiting to hear about the club’s European fate before deciding his future.
City were banned from European football for two years back in February, with UEFA citing ‘serious breaches’ of Financial Fair Play regulations.
Pep Guardiola’s men will appeal the case and take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but there’s a real chance that City end up out of the Champions League for a couple of years.
That possibility coupled with the global pandemic will hit City hard financially, and some players may look to leave in order to play Champions League football elsewhere.
Arguably the biggest loss would be midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, having racked up 50 goals and 86 assists in 209 appearances for City since his 2015 move from Wolfsburg.
The Belgian ace is now 28, and won’t want to waste his prime years outside of Europe’s top competition, and he has set tongues wagging by telling HLN that he is waiting to hear the club’s fate before looking at any possible exit.
“I’m just waiting,” said De Bruyne. “The club has told us that they are going to appeal and that they are almost one hundred percent sure that they are right. That’s why I’m waiting to see what will happen. I trust my team. Once the statement is made, I will review everything. Two years (without European football) would be long, in the case of one year I might see.”
“In recent years, and before then too, there have been many teams who have been interested and may have asked what I like. But to be honest, I’m very happy with City. I play for one of the best teams in the world, play in England – for my competitive view the best competition – and I like that. It remains a challenge to be the best and I need that too. What is coming is coming. But it’s not that I’ve tried to leave City in those five years. I have also remained calm for my previous transfers. I have never had any problems and have always waited for my moment,” he added.
Whether any club could actually tempt City into a sale is another matter, but Liverpool fans are hoping for a deal – especially after De Bruyne was quoted by Goal as saying that he grew up supporting the Reds.
City surely wouldn’t sell to their biggest title rivals, but Liverpool supporters are urging the club to make a bid, believing the time is now right for the Reds to offer De Bruyne a big move to his boyhood club in an ultimately unlikely deal.
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