Last week, via an Instagram post, Kevin De Bruyne confirmed what Manchester City fans had both feared and expected for several months: at the end of the season, he will leave the club.
The Belgian’s departure when his contract at the Etihad expires at the end of the campaign will bring to a close City’s association with arguably the best player in their history and the Premier League career of one of the finest midfielders the league has known.
Signed from Wolfsburg for what at the time was considered an exorbitant £55 million, his 106 goals, 176 assists and major hand in five league titles, two FA Cups, a Champions League and more have since made City’s investment look like a snip.
“You always have to be careful, have respect for the players who play main roles, and incredible players that play for the last, I don’t know, 20, 30 years in this club,” Pep Guardiola said in tribute to De Bruyne after the reigning Premier League champions drew 0-0 with Manchester United last weekend.
“But come on, there’s no doubt he’s one of the greatest, for sure. Because of his consistency – except the last year, year and a half, that he had injury problems – in important games and not important games, and every three days being there.
“Our success in the last decade, that would be impossible without him.”
And so even as the tributes will continue to rain in as De Bruyne faces his final weeks as a City player, thoughts are inevitably already turning to how they will replace their iconic playmaker.
It is perhaps not as pressing a matter as it would have been had the 33-year-old departed, say, two years ago.
As Guardiola alluded to in his post-match remarks, injuries have limited De Bruyne to a bit-part role over the last couple of seasons, with just 15 league starts last term and only 13 so far in 2024-25.
But even with his playing time restricted, De Bruyne has remained typically productive, totalling 22 goal involvements (six goals, 16 assists) across those two injury-hit seasons.
Plus, allowing key players to age beyond their prime and then leave without attempting to replace them is not a team-building recipe for success.
Finding an heir to De Bruyne as the Etihad’s creator-in-chief will be a crucial part of City’s rebuilding efforts as they seek to return to the Premier League’s summit next year and beyond.
The answer might already be in-house.
When De Bruyne missed an extended period of play last season, Phil Foden assumed a greater creative burden and thrived, producing the best form of his career.
The versatile England international was voted the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the year after scoring 27 goals and providing 13 assists across all competitions.
Foden has endured a less individually productive campaign this term, with just seven league goals and two assists to his name. But the diminutive technician is still only 24 years old.
His prime years remain ahead of him and a player of his undisputed quality should be able to rediscover his best form in the near future.
However, owing to his slight frame, Foden would not be a candidate for a like-for-like De Bruyne-esque role, starting slightly deeper in midfield than he is used to.
One player who has the physicality and stamina to adapt to a midfield remit, and someone whose City career could be rejuvenated by a reimagining of his role, is Jack Grealish.
The former Aston Villa winger, who was a £100 million signing in 2021, has been little more than a rotational option for Guardiola outside of City’s Treble-winning 2022/23 season.
Grealish is regarded as a candidate for sale this summer, but perhaps it would be worth rolling the dice on a change of position for the 29-year-old winger, tapping into his natural athleticism and experimenting with utilising his dribbling, close control and creativity closer to the middle of the pitch.
What about options elsewhere?
The likeliest option, though, is that City will seek their long-term De Bruyne heir via the transfer market.
They have already been linked with a big-money move for sought-after Germany attacker Florian Wirtz, the young star of Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten Bundesliga triumph last season.
Wirtz would not be a cheap option, valued upwards of £100m, and City would face stiff competition for his signature from long-term suitors like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Nor would the 21-year-old be a seamless tactical fit as a De Bruyne replacement, more adept in the kind of hybrid attacking midfield role Foden occupies, as opposed to the “free 8” position in which the Belgian has starred for much of his City career.
While his signing might be a less attractive prospect for City fans, this is why another reported target, Morgan Gibbs-White, makes more sense when it comes to plotting for the post-De Bruyne era.
The Nottingham Forest star can play as a No.10 or as the more advanced player in a midfield three.
And the 25-year-old has proven beyond question his elite pedigree since an eyebrow-raising switch from Wolves to the City Ground in a 2022 deal worth up to £40 million.
Over the past two Premier League seasons, Gibbs-White has logged 10 goals and 17 assists within a team who average just a 39.5 per cent share of possession.
That possession statistic – owing to Forest’s counter-attacking style under Nuno Espirito Santo – points to a stylistic adaptation Gibbs-White would have to undergo were he to move to City.
But on the plus side, the midfielder has a long-established chemistry with Foden, dating back to their time together as two of the standout youngsters in England U-17 World Cup-winning side of 2017.
Replacing a player of De Bruyne’s calibre is an arduous task for any club – even one with City’s resources.
But Guardiola has a handful of fascinating options.
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