Five burning questions for Man City when De Bruyne leaves (2025)

Manchester City must face up to life without Kevin De Bruyne - with important questions to be answered on the pitch and off it.

First was the shock, then the acceptance that Kevin De Bruyne leaving Manchester City this summer is ultimately the right call for everyone.

Now, attention will turn to ensuring the greatest player in City's modern history is given a fitting send-off, and then to how City move on without him. It has been coming for a while, so fans have probably already been through the denial or depression that De Bruyne's powers are waning and the bargaining of trying to justify another year on his contract.

The rest of the season will rightly focus on the final games of De Bruyne's impeccable City career, but Pep Guardiola and his bosses will have to put emotion to one side and work out how to continue winning trophies in a De Bruyne-less world.

Just 24 hours after the bombshell news, there are a number of questions that will need answering.

How do City replace him on the pitch?

The tempting answer is Phil Foden. Brought through as the heir to David Silva, but restricted in the middle by the undroppable De Bruyne, Foden has a free run at that no.10 spot next season. He was Premier League Player of the Year last season from that position when De Bruyne was out before the pair played as dual-tens upon De Bruyne's return.

Foden won't carry the ball like De Bruyne or play those defence-splitting passes, but he is equally as talismanic when he's at his best. And he has spoken about using the struggles of this term to make him better next season.

The key to replacing De Bruyne will be not replacing him - nobody can play those direct passes to Haaland like he does, but Foden or Omar Marmoush can get closer to the no.9 and the likes of Jeremy Doku and Savinho can supply him from out wide more.

There could also be some movement in the transfer market to reinforce the rebuild. Florian Wirtz has been linked but wouldn't come cheap, or could City try and identify another rough diamond like they did when they plucked De Bruyne from Wolfsburg?

A new contract for De Bruyne

Hear us out. De Bruyne says he will leave this summer, but his contract expires midway through the Club World Cup in the USA. The romantic solution is to offer a two-week extension to allow the club captain's final act at City to lift the World Cup trophy in New York.

But as Guardiola alluded to on Friday, an extension will be a new legal contract and he said De Bruyne is yet to confirm his plans. If he wants to sign for another club, which he surely will, is it worth the risk of injury with City to prioritise two weeks over the rest of his career?

And if De Bruyne has agreed a deal elsewhere, would he give 100 per cent to the City cause in the US, even subconciously? Another scenario could even see De Bruyne end his City deal early and sign for another Club World Cup rival. Plenty of decisions need to be made and they are not as simple as extending his deal by two weeks.

What pose to use for the statue?

Guardiola said he would bet a lot of money that De Bruyne joins Kompany, Aguero, Silva, Bell, Lee and Summerbee in permanent form outside the Etihad in the near future. He is of that status, and there wouldn't be a dissenting voice in sight if (or when) that is announced.

So that begs the question where will it go outside the Etihad, and then what pose will it depict? The Kompany and Aguero statues designed themselves, as did the Holy Trinity one. David Silva's is of a trademark turn on the ball - so could a De Bruyne statue maybe show that long-legged stride over the halfway line, or the moment he releases one of those devastating through-balls. Or perhaps shaping to defy physics and bend an inch-perfect cross between defenders to the back post.

The other option is an iconic celebration? The jump with one arm in the air? The one-armed point to the City fans high in the Bernabeu from 2020 maybe? Or the two-armed run to the same corner of the same stadium in 2023? Or the knee slide that followed soon after?

A romantic option - albeit harder to make into a statue - would be a depiction of De Bruyne and Guardiola's hug in Istanbul. The 'we did it Kev' moment. And an option that definitely won't make its way to steel is the swagger around the Emirates pitch as plastic cups and bottles rained down.

Any other tributes?

City have promised fitting tributes to De Bruyne and there is an argument that a statue isn't enough. One stand at the Etihad is already named after the King - Colin Bell.

Could another, the North Stand perhaps, be named after City's second king? King Kev. Fans have also called for the number 17 to be retired - while if they wanted a real lasting impact then what about naming a stadium after him to inspire the next generation?

The Academy Stadium is now the Joie Stadium for sponsorship reasons and is prioritised for the women's team, with the academy also playing there. Even unofficially, if it was named the Kevin De Bruyne Stadium, it would leave a lasting legacy for De Bruyne in a corner of Manchester he mesmerised for a decade. Other clubs have given similar tributes to club legends within their academy campuses.

Guardiola says the door is always open for De Bruyne and when he returns to City he should see something permanent to remember his glorious decade.

Could he come back in future?

It would be fascinating to see De Bruyne as a coach in future, although he hasn't particularly shown that side much as he comes towards the end of his career.

Guardiola thinks Vincent Kompany will be a City manager in future and Ilkay Gundogan has his heart set on a coaching career. Fernandinho has been linked with a return to City as a coach but they were nothing more than speculation earlier this year.

What about a Sporting Director role - less in the limelight but fittingly pulling the strings from further back? Or at the very least he could stay connected to City in an ambassadorial role. If Micah Richards can get away with that, De Bruyne definitely qualifies!