Manchester City to consider Premier League midfielder as Kevin De Bruyne replacement confirms David Ornstein | OneFootball

One Premier League attacking midfielder is set to be considered by Manchester City as a potential replacement for Kevin De Bruyne this summer, according to a new report.

The latest emerging transfer news comes after the aforementioned 33-year-old announced his pending exit from the Etihad Stadium after 10 years at Manchester City, upon the expiry of his current contract this summer.

There had been a growing feeling in various quarters that a natural parting of ways may be on the cards for Kevin De Bruyne, particularly with optimism increasing in the middle-east and United States that a swoop for the Belgian on a free transfer may be possible.

Now, closing down the doubts over his future, De Bruyne released a heartfelt statement across his media channels prior to the Manchester derby last week confirming his exit, with Pep Guardiola later revealing it was a decision made by the club themselves.

That leaves Manchester City with a mammoth task of replacing arguably the club’s greatest ever player, whether that be through a new arrival via the summer transfer market, or through greater responsibility placed on a name within the current squad.

The latest information concerns the former, and the idea that Manchester City would be willing to consider a name close to home as a possible solution to the hole left behind by De Bruyne in the coming months.

According to the information of The Athletic’s David Ornstein, both Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz are among the options Manchester City will consider to replace Kevin De Bruyne this summer.

It is clarified that both internal and external solutions are set to be explored in the process of filling De Bruyne’s place in the squad, although the prioritising of transfer targets is not intended until incoming sporting director Hugo Viana is ‘fully underway’ in his new role.

Ornstein further details that whether Manchester City choose to sign a ‘like-for-like’ successor to Kevin De Bruyne or use existing options such as Phil Foden is still to be decided by those in recruitment positions at the club.

Should Manchester City decide to pursue a deal for Bayer Leverkusen’s Wirtz, then the Premier League giants would undoubtedly face a number of hurdles beyond the financial implications of a deal that would no doubt well exceed the £100 million mark.

The Germany international is also being chased and admired by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, while the idea of an extended contract at Bayer Leverkusen is also not ruled out at this stage despite the interest from some of Europe’s biggest sides.

From the side of Morgan Gibbs-White, the City Ground star is known to be a close friend of Manchester City’s Phil Foden, although it remains to be seen just how much of an influence that could be should Etihad officials step up their interest in the 25-year-old.