Kevin De Bruyne names Manchester City forward whom he could see had “something different” | OneFootball

A number of Manchester City first-team stars as well as Napoli’s Kevin De Bruyne has heaped praise upon young forward Oscar Bobb.

Bobb struggled for fitness last season after suffering a leg break in training in August 2024 – days after playing a starring role in Manchester City’s narrow win over Manchester United in the FA Community Shield.

The 21-year-old burst onto the scene after scoring a crucial winner in the dying minutes in Manchester City’s dramatic 3-2 win away at Newcastle in January 2024, latching onto a pinpoint Kevin De Bruyne through ball to go round the keeper and give his boyhood club an instrumental three points in the title race.

However, after impressing in pre-season last year, Bobb has dealt with recurring injury troubles and has thereby failed to stake a proper, consistent run in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI in the last year.

The Norway international returned to fitness in the closing months of the 2024-25 campaign and has shown some signs of turning a corner as Manchester City compete in the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

Bobb netted the fifth in clever fashion as Manchester City completed a 6-0 demolition of Al Ain in their second Club World Cup group-stage clash last weekend, with new signing Rayan Cherki also grabbing his first goal for the Blues since completing a £34 million transfer from Lyon at the start of the month.

Guardiola is expected to keep shuffling his lineups as the tournament progresses, with Manchester City in need of a timely confidence boost after an uncharacteristically underwhelming and trophyless 2024-25 campaign.

As part of a documentary produced by Manchester City’s in-house media team on Bobb, several current and former first-team stars have provided a peak through the curtain into their early impressions of the talented winger.

Manchester City’s newly-appointed club captain Bernardo Silva said: “In pre-season, he (Bobb) arrived and you could see he was ready to be one of the main players.

“I think Oscar (Bobb) would have made a big difference because of the impact he was having in pre-season and the energy he was giving was very special.”

Matheus Nunes added: “When I arrived (from Wolves in 2023), he (Bobb) was one of the players that impressed me a lot in training. The talent he has is off the charts.”

Manchester City legend and current Napoli midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said: “I could see he had something different.”