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Manchester City will delay opening contract talks with Kevin De Bruyne until he fully recovers from injury.
The Belgium playmaker, 32, is out with a long-term hamstring problem – and is not expected to return until early next year. And that means negotiations on extending De Bruyne’s stay at the Etihad beyond the summer of 2025 are also on hold.
By next June, the City skipper, who has not played since hobbling off in the opening fixture of the season and requiring surgery on his troublesome muscle injury, will be in into the final 12 months of his £375,000-a-week contract.
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Boss Pep Guardiola is desperate he remains the key figure within his all-conquering squad – and has given the club his seal of approval to hand the Belgium playmaker, with 99 caps, another two years.
De Bruyne, now represented by his father, remains content in Manchester but is aware there will huge interest from Europe’s leading clubs should he fail to sign new terms before the end of this season.
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The City hierarchy, though, need to know that he is fully fit and able to produce the goods regularly still before tying him down. However, the fact England defender Kyle Walker, 36, signed a two-year extension only last week, underlines Guardiola and the club are happy to retain the services of older, experienced heads if contributing consistently.
De Bruyne, a £54million buy from German outfit Wolfsburg in July 2015, will be offered the same bumper terms as before, which already make him the club’s joint-highest earner alongside Erling Haaland.
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Since his arrival at City, the former Genk and Chelsea man has wracked up trophies galore – with five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, five League Cups, as well as the Champions League last season.
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