Kevin De Bruyne to head Man City clear out after Guardiola broadside | OneFootball

It’s been just about the worst season of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, and after his recent broadside, Kevin De Bruyne is likely to head a Man City clear out.

There have been rumours that Barcelona’s Dani Olmo is already being looked at as a replacement for the Belgian playmaker, Man City are also eyeing Xavi Simons.

Pep Guardiola could ease Kevin De Bruyne and others out

In 2024/25, there’s just been one disaster after another, with the latest being that insipid performance in the Champions League against Real Madrid.

As a result of being dumped out of the premier European competition at such an early stage, Guardiola has fired a broadside at a number of his players who can’t seem to stay fit for any significant length of time.

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City is embraced by Pep Guardiola after he is substituted during the Premier League match against Manchester United on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

According to The Guardian (subscription required), those players that can’t sustain two games a week at the highest level are likely to be dispensed with.

Those at risk include De Bruyne, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.

“We have to sit down with the doctors, with physios, with the players, with the agents, and be clear that some of them cannot sustain every three days, every month, every two months, playing every three, four days,” Guardiola was quoted as saying.

“So this is the reality. There’s one more year, [then] a World Cup.”

Time for Kevin De Bruyne to face facts?

Given the depth of City’s malaise this season, Pep has the perfect excuse as to why certain players have to be moved on.

Of course, every successful team goes through periods of change, and Sir Alex Ferguson was the master of knowing when the time was right for some of his big names to be eased out of the Old Trafford exit door.

It would really shake things up a bit for Guardiola to do the same, however, it seems that no other course of action at this stage is going to suffice.