Manchester City continue to monitor a potential De Bruyne replacement | OneFootball

Manchester City reportedly had scouts present at last night’s UEFA Europa League final between Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta. The Serie A club ran out winners over Xabi Alonso’s side with a 3-nil win to Bayern Leverkusen their first loss of the season. A new report indicates that the champions had their eyes on Florian Wirtz as they continue to track the German international.

Shaun Webbley has relayed a report from Graeme Bailey for hitc.com that Manchester City continues to monitor Florian Wirtz. Furthermore, Webbley reports that City had scouts present at last night’s UEFA Europa League final to cast their eye on the German international’s performance. It is also included in HITC’s piece that Liverpool also had scouts present to monitor the Leverkusen star.

Florian Wirtz could be the ideal Kevin De Bruyne replacement, but any City move may have to wait until the end of next season.

The time is coming when Manchester City will have to make plans for the future that doesn’t include Kevin De Bruyne. He has been ever present in Manchester City’s era of dominance since Pep Guardiola took charge of the club. But he is edging ever closer to the end of his career. The midfielder is now 32 years of age and has suffered some serious injury issues in recent seasons. De Bruyne missed 5 months of this season due to a severe hamstring injury. Father time waits for no man, and eventually, Manchester City will have to replace De Bruyne.

That will prove no easy task. De Bruyne is still one of Manchester City’s key contributors. Despite missing 5 months of the season when he returned, he added 18 assists and scored 6 goals in 25 appearances. He is a vital component of the Manchester City machine. The Belgian international is also an inspirational figure for his teammates. There have been several occasions this season where he has inspired the champions to victory through his will alone. City’s 1-nil win over Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final was an example of this.

But the need to replace De Bruyne may not occur until the end of next season. David McDonnell has reported for the Mirror that City’s inspirational midfielder is likely to stay at the club next season. If that proves to the case, it may marry up with Bayern Leverkusen’s timeline for when they may sell Florian Wirtz.

It is also included in Shaun Webbley’s report that Bayer Leverkusen has no intention of selling Wirtz this summer. Furthermore, Webbley adds that Wirtz has promised Xabi Alonso that he will remain at the club for a further 12 months.

There is the potential of a revolving door moment with De Bruyne and Wirtz at Manchester City next summer.

Based on the available information, Manchester City will be in the race to sign Wirtz if he does intend to leave Bayer Leverkusen at the end of next season. With his skillset and obvious talent, he looks to be the ideal player to eventually succeed Kevin De Bruyne.

If De Bruyne does look to depart Manchester City next summer, it could be a revolving door moment for the world champions. It does appear that there is the potential for Wirtz to arrive as De Bruyne calls time on his illustrious Manchester City career. While a lot of water has to pass under the bridge for both of those scenarios to play out, it isn’t out of the realms of possibility.