When Raheem Sterling’s transfer to Arsenal was confirmed, that made Kevin De Bruyne the last man standing at Manchester City. The Belgian shared a picture on social media, made by a fan, of the City squad from 2015/16, the last season before Pep Guardiola arrived. Every player who had since departed was in grey, leaving De Bruyne as the only man in colour, as he is the only one left at the Etihad from before Guardiola’s time.
Kevin-De Bruyne said: “Yeah, I saw that. It shows I’m getting old now! That’s how it goes sometimes but I’ve been at the club seven years now, Pep has been here six. It’s a long time in football right now. But I’m still very happy with what I’m doing here and hopefully the club is happy with me. Everything has changed so much since Pep came but it was funny to see there was just me left.”
Fernandinho left City at the start of the summer, with Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko following in recent weeks. Guardiola said they were all important members of the squad, and leave amicably, although De Bruyne offered a slightly more cautious opinion on the exits.
Kevin De Bruyne said: “I don’t know about that [the changes being a good thing] – sometimes it’s good to have the same team around you, but also you need to change things at times. It all depends on the end of the season how things are. We’ve done so well with this team. In the past new faces have come in and others have gone but we’ve still found a way to win titles. So hopefully we can do that again this year. There’s been a lot of change this year. It’s been quite sad but some of the players who’ve gone, I had a good relationship with them. In one way I can understand why it sometimes happens in football but the other part is sorry to see them go. But some of those who have gone will be friends for life and we wish them all the best – apart from when we play them for 90 minutes!”
De Bruyne was not all negative, though, as he gave an encouraging verdict on new signings Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega Moreno.
Kevin De Bruyne added: “I’ve been really impressed with the new signings. They all bring a little bit of quality to the squad and seem to have a good rhythm in their game already. Alvarez looks very sharp, Stefan played a good game in Houston and looks ready. For Erling it’s been a bit more slow, we’re taking a bit more care of him but the quality is there, you can see that even though he’s only done a few days with us. I think it’s normal for the fans to be excited about him [Haaland], you just look at his track record as a striker and he’s already one of the best in the world. If you sign someone like that then there is going to be a lot of expectation but it doesn’t feel like he’s feeling the pressure so far. He’s doing really well, the quality he has in front of goal is well known. He’s not done that much with us, coming back slowly. Let’s give him some time but he’ll be sharp and ready when he needs to be. In the first game of the season if he’s there I’m sure everyone will be looking but he’s signed for five or six years, I think he’ll score a couple of goals in that time. As a midfielder, it’s always good to see a player like him come in. If a striker wants to score goals, I will try to help him do that.”
