Manchester City to hold showdown transfer talks with 382-appearance first-team star in August

The future plans and ambitions of Kevin De Bruyne will be discussed directly with Manchester City in the coming weeks with discussions now scheduled.

The latest development on the future of the Belgian international comes just days after Pep Guardiola boldly clarified during a press conference that De Bruyne would not be going anywhere this summer. “No, Kevin isn’t leaving,” said the Catalan earlier this week.

De Bruyne himself has been keen to speak openly about his own future too amid interest from Saudi Arabia, explaining earlier this summer that the wages on offer in the Middle-East can sometimes be too difficult to turn down, especially at his stage of his career.

In early June, the 33-year-old admitted, “At my age you have to be open. You’re talking about incredible amounts of money in what may be the end of my career. Sometimes you have to think about that. If I play there for two years, I’ll be able to earn an incredible amount.”

He continued, “Before that I had to play football for 15 years. I may not even reach that amount yet. Then you have to think about what that could mean next. But at the moment I haven’t had to think about that yet.”

And amid the mixed messaging and ongoing uncertainty surrounding Kevin De Bruyne’s long-term future plans and ambitions, Manchester City have now scheduled talks with the legendary playmaker to understand exactly what they can expect from him.

That is according to the information of MailSport’s Jack Gaughan, who reports that City now want to ascertain Kevin De Bruyne’s next steps ‘as soon as possible’ given his current contract expires next summer, with talks scheduled when he returns to Manchester next month.

Kevin De Bruyne will play no part in Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the United States over the next two weeks, instead returning to duties with the Premier League champions on August 5 ahead of the FA Community Shield against Manchester United.

Pep Guardiola is likely to remain with a largely limited playing squad Stateside as the club grant a significant portion of their first-team stars extended holidays following involvement at the summer’s European Championships.

Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic are however expected to reunite with the squad later this week ahead of their second pre-season friendly match against AC Milan at New York’s iconic Yankee Stadium.