De Bruyne must decide his City future, insists Guardiola

PLENTY TO PONDER: Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne ahead of the UEFA Champions League Knockout Phase Play Offs, first leg match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire

Kevin De Bruyne must make his own decision on his Manchester City future, Pep Guardiola has insisted.

The 33-year-old will be out of contract in the summer after a decade with the club, during which time he has marked himself out as one of the best midfielders to have graced the Premier League.

But the Belgian's powers appear to be on the wane and his performance in Sunday's 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool drew criticism. He has played the full 90 minutes only seven times of an injury-disrupted season, starting 12 of 25 league games, scoring two goals and adding six assists.

De Bruyne has been linked with a potentially lucrative move to Major League Soccer, but could also stay with City for another campaign, albeit almost certainly with a reduced role and a salary to reflect it.

Last week Guardiola spoke about his close relationship with a player who joined City a year before he did.

But when asked if that relationship will be key to any decision on De Bruyne's future, Guardiola said: "Nothing is going to change about that. Of course we know each other quite well and we are quite honest with that.

"I think in that situation he has to decide, that is the most important thing. He’s completely honest with himself, to decide what he feels and what he can do in the next period of his life. He’s 34 in the summer and he has to decide, like what happened with David Silva for example."

De Bruyne is one of several of City's older generation with question marks over their futures amid reports of a potential clear-out this summer as part of an ongoing rebuild.

But Guardiola, who has always been known for preferring to work with a small squad, admitted the increasing pressures of the fixture list mean that he wants to go into next season with more depth, and that will mean keeping some of those more experienced heads around.

Guardiola is optimistic that John Stones could return this season as the defender does not need surgery on the thigh injury he suffered in last week's Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid.

In Stones' absence, January signing Abdukodir Khusanov partnered Nathan Ake in central defence on Sunday, with Guardiola revealing it was a tactical decision to leave Ruben Dias on the bench until he replaced Ake in the 77th minute.

"He came from injury and we wanted a bit more pace from Khusanov and a left-footer on the left side," Guardiola said. "Ruben is massively important for us as a player and a character, many many things. He has been a key player for this period but sometimes I decide for our players."

Meanwhile Ange Postecoglou insisted he does not believe Tottenham captain Son Heung-min is set to “slow down” any time soon.

Son set up Brennan Johnson to score twice at Ipswich on Saturday to move into double figures for assists this season alongside 10 goals in all competitions.

The South Korea attacker had only found the net four times going into December to raise questions about his long-term future, but has been more prolific since and the club triggered a one-year extension in January to keep him contracted until the summer of 2026.

On Wednesday Son will get the chance to show his class again when City visit and Postecoglou has backed a player with 13 goal involvements in this fixture to continue to flourish.

“His ability to beat players, even in tight areas, is elite. His finishing I think is elite," Postecoglou said. “Sonny’s benefitted from the fact he’s been able to have a break between games. We saw that on the weekend after being able to recover from one game to another and having a full week to get his energy levels back, he was outstanding, particularly in the first half.

“And he was great before. You never want to try to predict with players like Sonny how long he will go for because those kind of players I think always defy whatever odds there are because of the way they look after themselves and conduct themselves, the levels.

“Even this year, as difficult as it has been for us, I think his numbers still stack up. You weigh him up against any winger in the league, he’s still going to be top five.

"He’s probably been top five in the nine or 10 years he’s been here. Not many would rank with Sonny in terms of output on a consistent basis from his position. He’s top 10 per cent of players in his position in the Premier League.

"Those are the facts and if he’s continuing to do that, there’s nothing to say he should slow down.”

PA