“I think the club has to think about it” – Pep Guardiola issues update on Kevin De Bruyne’s Manchester City future | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne’s fitness and consistency for Manchester City should come into the thinking of club officials when deciding whether to extend his contract or not.

That is the view of manager Pep Guardiola, who has been quizzed this week on the future of the Belgium international after the midfielder entered into the final six months of his current Etihad Stadium agreement.

De Bruyne has endured a complex season so far for Manchester City and Belgium, only recently returning to full fitness having sustained a problematic groin injury in the opening weeks of the campaign.

Such was the complexity of the injury and the desire from the 33-year-old to return to fitness as soon as possible that De Bruyne withdrew from international action with his country across successive international breaks.

The attacking midfielder has also recently revealed that talks with Manchester City over his future, which were originally planned to take place last summer, had been put on hold to allow him to focus on his own body and recovery back to top-level match fitness.

When quizzed on the future of De Bruyne and whether there had been any further developments on the player’s future or contractual situation at Manchester City, manager Pep Guardiola responded this week, “It’s not my business.”

Much has also been made of De Bruyne’s age and his ability to remain fit for a consistent period of time, in turn delivering top-level performances to Manchester City into a 10th season with the club.

Discussing whether those subjects would come into the thinking of the club, Guardiola continued, “Always we want [him at top fitness]. He’s had problems in the last year, year and a half, like this year with many, many players.

“But of course when he’s consistent and fit and he can play regularly, I said many times, he’s a really important player for us, a decisive player. But it’s going to happen for the club, for how he’s going to perform until the end of the season, the age that he has, and many things.

“I think the club has to think about it.”

Manchester City, regardless of the decision taken on De Bruyne’s future, will likely remain in the hunt for a long-term successor to the legendary playmaker, with Germany internationals Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala expected to rank highly in their wishlists.

As for De Bruyne and his options for next steps in the game, Saudi Arabia are expected to make him a primary target while there has been long-standing interest from Major League Soccer in his services, alongside an ambitious desire from Fenerbahce to bring him to Turkey.