Manchester City: Kevin De Bruyne’s discomfort is the talk of the town

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By: Manu Tournoux

“Give me back my players, and I’ll be fine”said Pep Guardiola a few days ago. Indeed, Manchester City has paid a heavy price for injuries since the start of the season, which is one of the explanations for the spectacular downgrade observed in recent weeks. Over the last 13 meetings, Guardiola’s team has recorded 9 defeats, 3 draws for only 1 victory. This victory was acquired against Nottingham Forest on December 4, and coincided with the return to the starting lineup of Kevin De Bruyne.

The Belgian celebrated his return to the starting line-up for the first time since September 18. An injury had kept him out of the field for a few weeks, but when he was back in the squad, Pep Guardiola was content to bring him on at the end of the match, which had already questioned the English press on a potential problem between the two men. On December 4, Kevin De Bruyne answered doubts with a superb performance, crowned with a goal and an assist. It was then thought that a large part of City’s problems would be resolved with the return of the Belgian midfielder.

Annoyed at the end of the match against Everton

But the following 3 meetings demonstrated the opposite. De Bruyne started them and Man City lost to Juve and Manchester United and drew against Crystal Palace. So Guardiola put him back on the bench, he who was complaining about not having his star players available. He did not come out during the defeat against Aston Villa, and was allowed 15 minutes of play against Everton yesterday, without being able to force the decision. And above all, De Bruyne clearly looked like he was having bad days. He returned to the locker room at the final whistle, which was noticed by Danny Mills, consultant for talksport. “Everyone noticed this scene. He just turned and walked off the field. Pep walked towards him and it looked tense. There was no pat on the back or handshake. »

Former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch said: “Kevin De Bruyne was on the bench. We didn’t see him today. I don’t know what’s going on with De Bruyne. Why not bring him into a match where you are desperate for a goal? It was strange”. The uneasiness is therefore growing, but Pep Guardiola immediately calmed things down at a press conference. “Kevin was not ready to play 90 minutes. Maybe I could have brought him in earlier, but the team was doing pretty well at that point.”he assured. We may not be convinced by his explanations since De Bruyne was able to make 4 starts between December 4 and December 15. Obviously, it is also difficult to put aside the contractual situation of the 33-year-old player, whose lease ends next June. He recently let a little disappointment filter in when talking about his future at Man City, which seems to be getting darker week after week.