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Manchester City will turn their attention to Belgian international Kevin de Bruyne once the deal for Raheem Sterling is officially completed, The Telegraph reports. Wolfsburg are reported to have backed down on their “not for sale” stance on the 24-year-old but will be holding out for a fee in the region of £50 million.
Sterling is expected to undergo a medical on Tuesday after Liverpool gave him permission to hold talks with City and the move is set to be completed later today. The Sky Blues manager Manuel Pellegrini though wants to bolster his attacking options further and with the lifting of FFP restrictions, are willing to match the German club’s valuation of De Bruyne.
The former Chelsea reject turned out to be a revelation in the Bundesliga scoring 15 goals, including one in the final of the German Cup which they won defeating Borussia Dortmund. He raked in 22 assists as well helping the Volkswagen-backed club to finish second in the Bundesliga thus qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
De Bruyne though looks likely to feature in Europe’s premier club competition in other colours as he has been giving vibes of a move away from Wolfsburg. Besides City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have also shown interest in the attacking midfielder, but if his agent’s words are to be believed, the most probable destination will be the Etihad.
Wolfsburg resigned to losing De Bruyne
The two-time Premier League champions have been hot on the heels of the 24-year-old for quite some time with reports first emerging of a possible move back in April with De Bruyne’s agent Patrick de Koster saying that he had held talks with Manchester City officials.
"I have met the people from Manchester City and we know each other," De Koster told. "For the moment there are no formal discussions. I will be going around the world to talk about the situation with Kevin."
Wolfsburg reacted strongly to those comments insisting the Belgian was not for sale. Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs said the club were looking at extending De Bruyne’s contract beyond 2019.
“Kevin has a contract until 2019, so the signal has already been sent out. He will stay with us. The aim is to take into account Kevin’s extraordinary development and I think we’ll reach an agreement here very quickly,” Allofs told.
Wolfsburg though are unlikely to stand in the way of the player’s wishes and Bayern Munich could yet make an approach for De Bruyne, especially after losing Bastian Schweinsteiger to Manchester United. City though are unlikely to back down in their approach, especially after cooling their interest in another coveted youngster in Paul Pogba.
