Serie A leaders Napoli have emerged as frontrunners to sign Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne who is set to leave Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.
33-year-old KDB, who has won everything with Manchester City, will be leaving at the end of the current campaign after a decade at the club. The Belgian midfielder's current deal expires in June and was not offered a new deal. Recently, he revealed that he was surprised when the club said they no longer needed him after not discussing his contract the whole year.
𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚, @DeBruyneKev! 🥳🎈
— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 28, 2021
To celebrate his 30th, here's all his goals and assists from this season! 🔥
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klUGiM pic.twitter.com/3HsyTDHubl
Meanwhile, a Spanish media report claimed that the former Wolfsburg star, who will be 34 in June, offered himself to Real Madrid. In order to convince the Los Blancos to sign him, De Bruyne told his agents that he was willing to half his current salary. Manchester City is paying him around 16 million euros and he was okay even the La Liga giants could pay him 7-8 million euros, defensacentral.com said in a report.
Kevin De Bruyne in action for Belgium | Reuters
The six-time Premier League winner wishes to have a new experience and joining Madrid, a club he has been linked to many times before, would be ideal. He thinks his vast experience could help the club fill the void left by Toni Kroos's retirement. An ageing Luka Modric also increases his chance of convincing the European giants of needing an experienced man in the middle, KDB believes.
However, Real Madrid are not interested in entertaining the talk forward as they believe De Bruyne is way past his prime and could become a liability, the defensacentral report said. Their priority remains on building another 'Galactico' era by concentrating on younger prodigies who could remain at the club for close to a decade.
Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos | AP
The expected arrival of Xabi Alonso as the successor of Carlo Ancelotti is also a roadblock before De Bruyne. Xabi has reportedly said that even his former teammate and club legend Modric is unlikely to get a place in plans as he prefers younger stars who can execute short, high-tempo passing sequences to break lines and access the half-spaces.
Meanwhile, Scott McTominay, who is having a terrific season at Napoli after leaving Manchester United, is said to be entrusted by Antonio Conte to have a word with his former rival.
