Sport
De Bruyne: £60m Reject to City’s Greatest Signing
When Kevin de Bruyne signed for Manchester City in the summer of 2015 for £55m, a clip went viral summing up the disrespect he faced at the time.
On Sky Sports, presenter Jeff Stelling and pundits Paul Merson, Charlie Nicolas, Phil Thompson and Matt Le Tissier were discussing the fact City had agreed the deal. All three of the former professionals were very dismissive, lamenting the move as an example how out of control transfer fees were getting. They were backed up by some of the back pages of the newspapers, with one splashing with the headline ‘The £60m Reject’.
Looking back at the reactions to fees in bygone years is an interesting way to measure the marriage of football and business. Now, of course, £55m doesn’t seem unreasonable for a player of that calibre, with the very best expected to cost at least £100m or more. But the argument was about De Bruyne, a player who only 18 months earlier had been discarded by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea before he reshaped the team and won his third Premier League title.
The Belgian midfielder had been sold to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga for £18m, which much of the mainstream English football media believed to be a move into the wilderness. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is how many saw it; if he wasn’t good enough for Chelsea, and only good enough to recoup such a nominal fee, how could he possibly justify such a hefty outlay at a rival club, themselves looking to become a dominant force? Such a linear viewpoint was not uncommon, but it set a lot of people up to look very silly indeed.
Now a decade on, De Bruyne announced last week that he would be leaving City at the end of the season, a decision driven by the club. Nobody has defined the modern era at the Etihad Stadium under Pep Guardiola more, with six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, five League Cups and a Champions League to his name. Individually, he has made 281 league appearances, with another seven possible, scoring 70 goals and registering a staggering 118 assists.
But this wasn’t a surprise when looking at what De Bruyne achieved in Germany. He’d gone there having scarcely been given a chance by Mourinho, who reshaped his side afterwards to prioritise the likes of Oscar, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard in the positions De Bruyne is so effective in. He inspired Wolfsburg to second in the league with 31 goal involvements that season. It was their highest finish since winning the title in 2009 and otherwise their best campaign for almost 20 years.
When he came back to England he was already a big game player, and he never really stopped being that. Nobody was able to match his output or consistency in the league, and for all the money Guardiola has spent, inheriting De Bruyne gave him the foundation from which to build. He has everything to his game; pressing, shooting from distance, link-up, intelligence and an incredible passing range. At his best, he was the biggest reason City became nigh on impossible to stop.
Spending money won’t guarantee a clear transition once De Bruyne leaves. The team has struggled this season in part because he has, and it is time for a refresh, but there are not many players on the planet who can do what De Bruyne could. Last season, after missing months through injury, he was brought on while City were 2-1 down at Newcastle in late January; he scored and then set up the winner to turn the game. The most impressive thing about City in recent years has been their ability to deliver when they need to, and nobody embodies that more than De Bruyne.
It makes sense to wipe the slate clean and rebuild. Guardiola is staying for two more years to do that. Phil Foden feels like the readymade replacement for De Bruyne but there will be no quick fix to what he’ll leave behind. Whatever happens, though, he departs having proven plenty of doubters wrong and is arguably City’s greatest ever signing.
