Manchester City rejected Kevin De Bruyne contract demands despite desire to stay at Etihad Stadium | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne saw his own stance on a contract renewal at Manchester City snubbed by the club earlier this year, a new report has suggested.

The veteran attacking midfielder – widely regarded as one of the greatest to ever operate in the Premier League – will be calling time on his decade-long stay at the Etihad Stadium come the end of the ongoing season.

That move comes after Pep Guardiola revealed that Manchester City themselves had come to a collective decision to move on from their ties with Kevin De Bruyne, opting not to renew his contract beyond its current expiry date of June 2025.

It remains to be seen precisely when De Bruyne will leave the Manchester City squad however, with the club heading out to the United States to compete at the FIFA Club World Cup, and the player’s contract expiry coming in the middle of that tournament.

Things could have been very different between both parties however, with a new report detailing the stance that had been initially taken by the Manchester City captain on his own contract during discussions with the club.

That is according to a wide-ranging report from ESPN on the situation around De Bruyne, as sources claim that the 33-year-old still feels capable of playing at the highest level in the game and was open to renewing his contract at Manchester City on the same terms.

Nevertheless, both parties are now entirely aligned on their parting of ways come the end of the campaign, and Manchester City appear to be looking towards who could come into the club as a direct replacement.

Closer to home and Etihad officials have been linked with admiration and some level of interest in the likes of Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, as well as former Academy star, Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa.

Further afield and the main option appears to be Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, although it remains to be seen whether a €150 million price tag and competition from Bayern Munich could prevent any deal from developing.

RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons has also been named as a player who could be on a list of targets within the City Football Academy offices, with Hugo Viana working alongside current director of football Txiki Begiristain in a transitional phase between the pair.