Kevin De Bruyne puts Manchester City contract talks on hold over injury and fitness concerns | OneFootball

Manchester City were unable to instigate any conversations with Kevin De Bruyne over a new contract after the Belgian paused conversations amid fitness and injury concerns.

The veteran midfielder, who has been integral to Manchester City’s success since joining the club from the Bundesliga in the summer market of 2015, has endured a frustrating season so far due to complicated fitness issues.

Having come into the campaign fresh and confident in his post-surgery health from last season, De Bruyne picked up a problem in the game against Brentford that would rule him out for around two months.

As such, his commitments to the Belgium national team were put on hold, and it now appears as though conversations with Manchester City’s hierarchy over his future with the club have also been put on hold too.

Speaking to the media on Monday afternoon, the 33-year-old told reporters ahead of the club’s upcoming UEFA Champions League encounter that talks would have taken place by now over a new contract, had it not been for his recent injury frustrations.

“Obviously when I started the season, I know things would happen and talks would happen but then I unfortunately had that thing against Brentford, so I’ve put basically everything to the side,” De Bruyne said.

“I was hoping to be out for a couple of days, and it ended up being eight, nine weeks. So for the moment, I’d rather still get better first and see how I am, and all the rest will come. I’m not really too obsessed with things right now.”

He continued, “I know people will ask me questions about this, but there’s not a lot I can say, there’s not been a lot of talks, so I’m fine, I’m happy, I just want to play good football again, and the future – we’ll see.”

Continuing on the subject of his future, De Bruyne insisted that while questions on his contract situation can be expected, he has little to no updates to provide Manchester City fans at present due to the lack of developments on the situation.

“Questions will come, but I can only give you the answers that I’m giving you right now because there’s nothing really more to talk about,” the midfielder admitted. “Talks will come, if no talks come then it’s my last year. So I don’t know, I’m trying to be honest.

“People can say or write about it, I can’t affect that, I just want to play good football and we’ll see what the future holds.”

The final line of questioning saw the Belgium international quizzed on whether it is up to Manchester City to instigate contract talks, to which he responded, “I had a conversation already in the summer, but then I had the injury so I was not in the right frame of mind to speak about that at the time.”

He continued, “I really want to be good and be back where I need to be on the pitch and be myself again. And there’s no rush also, so I don’t feel uncomfortable in my situation. I just want to play football, and I’m not really worried.”

Manchester City welcome Eredivisie side Feyenoord to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night on matchday five of the league phase in the UEFA Champions League, with a clash at Anfield against Liverpool to follow on Sunday afternoon.