Pep Guardiola may have one more problem to deal with over the next few days. That’s because, according to the “Mundo Deportivo” newspaper, Kevin de Bruyne was unhappy to have been replaced during Manchester City’s 9-0 win over Burton Albion in the first match of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
In a press conference, Guardiola said he did not know if that had happened or not and made himself available to the athlete to settle any pending issues.
“I did not talk to him about this, so I cannot say what he thinks because I do not know. If he has some problem, he knows where I am,” said the Citizens’ coach.
De Bruyne was subbed off at the 58th minute and the one that came in on his place was the boy from the under categories of City, Phil Foden. The young English player came in and managed to score one of the goals of the amazing victory. After leaving the pitch, De Bruyne went straight to the locker room. This created some speculations, first that he might have felt some kind of injury (what would not be a new thing for him this season) and now that he may not have liked to be subbed off and left the field really irritated after the match.
The Belgian was the main player of the record holder Manchester City of the season 2017/18, helping the team out to achieve the title of the Premier League. In this campaign, however, he has suffered a lot with injuries. In all the season so far, adding all the competitions, De Bruyne has only 545 minutes played, that is the equivalent of only six complete matches. Not so good for a player of his importance and skills.
What do you guys think about it all? It might be such a hard task to manage all of the egos inside this Man City squad. Guardiola gotta manage his players, in order to get to another level. Conquer a European Cup, for example. De Bruyne is one of the greatest players of City’s history – which is not that hard when you compare the club’s size to the likes of Liverpool and United – and he should be treated with some more respect, and admiration.