Manchester City chairman dedicates road to Kevin De Bruyne with accompanying mosaic | OneFootball

Khaldoon Al Mubarak – the chairman of Manchester City – has unveiled a brand new mosaic and dedicated a road to outgoing club legend, Kevin De Bruyne.

The iconic Premier League playmaker will be bringing an end to his 10-year stay at the Etihad Stadium next month, after it was decided internally that no renewal offer would be made to the veteran midfielder.

De Bruyne himself is believed to have been left disappointed with the decision, standing firm on his belief that he can still perform at the level required to challenge for the biggest honours at the top of the European game.

Nevertheless, City have granted De Bruyne the opportunity to seek a new challenge elsewhere, and the midfielder will command widespread interest from a number of globally-renowned leagues, including Serie A.

There has been plenty of talk since the announcement was made confirming his pending exit from the club as to what lasting tributes could be made to remember the impact of the Belgian icon in Sky Blue ranging from the renaming of a stand at the Etihad Stadium, to a statue.

And with plenty more still in the pipeline, Manchester City have unveiled their first two pieces of work put in place to create an ever-lasting memory of the iconic number 17’s performances over the course of a decade at the club.

Unveiled personally by Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on Tuesday afternoon, the club confirmed that they had commissioned a special mosaic and dedicated a road at the City Football Academy to Kevin De Bruyne.

The mosaic has been installed by a training pitch within the City Football Academy, with the image depicting one of the 33-year-old’s many iconic celebrations over his 10-year stay at the club, from the 6-3 victory over Leicester City in 2021.

The mosaic is the latest in a series of tributes to departing Manchester City legends, including Yaya Toure, Joe Hart, David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan, created by local Manchester artist and City fan Mark Kennedy.

As for ‘Kevin De Bruyne Crescent’, the road links the Academy to the first-team centre within the club’s headquarters.

The permanent tributes within the club’s training centre also follows the installation of a temporary mural put in place within the city’s Northern Quarter district, illustrating the remarkable success of De Bruyne in terms of silverware.

The veteran playmaker made his first visit to the artwork alongside the club’s media team and television broadcasters this week, in which he admitted, “That’s really cool! Now you see how much you’ve done with the team and achieved all these trophies.”

De Bruyne continued, “The painting is really nice, really detailed. The amount of parades, and trophies won, amazing moments that you had with a lot of different people – that’s why it’s a bit emotional doing all this stuff.

“But it creeps in a bit now, reflecting on how actually good it went. But I guess later on you’ll probably enjoy it a bit more.”

For now, it remains to be seen when Kevin De Bruyne will formally leave Manchester City, although the expectation from the side of the player is that he will not be around to represent Pep Guardiola’s side at this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.