Manchester City are preparing to launch a A?40m opening bid for Wolfsburg star and former Chelsea FC midfielder Kevin De Bruyne as per reports in the Telegraph.
De Bruyne, 23, has been in sensational form for Wolfsburg following his a 20 million move from Chelsea FC and is being pursued by a host of European Clubs, most notably, Manchester City, who are looking to sign de Bruyne to revamp their midfield following a disappointing season.
City preparing A?40m offer
As per reports in the Telegraph, the Citizens will launch an opening bid of A?40m in the coming weeks for the Belgian star who was named as Bundesliga player of the year defeating the likes of Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben to the title.
The report says:
Manchester City are poised to make an opening A?40 million offer for Kevin De Bruyne after Txiki Begiristain spent last weekend holding talks over the midfielder.
But City will need to smash their transfer record for a second time this summer and pay A?57m to convince Wolfsburg to sell De Bruyne.
It is understood Begiristain took soundings on what it would take to sign De Bruyne, with City prepared to hand the 24-year-old a five-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months, worth A?180,000-a-week.
Wolfsburg value De Bruyne at 20m euros for every year he has left on his current contract, which expires in 2019. That brings the total value to a 80m (A?57m).
What will de Bruyne bring to City?
De Bruyne, who broke the Bundesliga record by clocking up an impressive 21 assists and in addition to scoring 10 league goals, helped Wolfsburg finish second behind only Bayern Munich.
The player also scored in the final of the German cup to help Wolfsburg beat Dortmund to the trophy.
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The former Chelsea FC midfielder played more accurate through balls than any other player in the Bundesliga and at 111 chance created, was ahead of Eden Hazard, who was in third, as the second best across the top 5 Leagues in Europe.
De Bruyne was also named as Bundesliga player of the year defeating the likes of Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben to the title.
What de Bruyne will bring to Manchester City is end product having displayed plenty of appetite for it during his time at Wolfsburg.
With Yaya Toure not getting any younger, the Citizen will be looking at de Bruyne to come in as a long term replacement. One wonders though, where would Raheem Sterling play given that City have Nasri, Navas and Silva to play outwide and de Bruyne will be another player who can play wide or down the center.