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Exclusives
Manchester City identify ‘complete’ £20m playmaker as ideal Kevin De Bruyne replacement
TBR Football can exclusively confirm that Manchester City have set their sights on a £20million Champions League playmaker as a potential replacement for Kevin De Bruyne.
The Citizens are set to lose De Bruyne’s services at the end of th♒e season and, as such, need to find someone to fill his boots.
Manchester City have already embarked on a𝕴 squad rebuild, signing Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonꩲzalez in January.
The summer transfer window is likely to see more recruitment as Pep Guardiola 🎃seeks to strengthen 𝕴his team, whose current cycle appears to be coming to an end.
And the pla𓃲yer Man City have identified as a good candidate to replace De Bruyne has quite a few things ဣin common with the Belgian superstar.
READ MORE: Manchester City fans say one decision Pep Guardiola made cost them the🌳❀ game v Real Madrid
Manchester City identify Charles De Ketelaere as potential Kevin De Bruyne replacement
TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey understands that Manchester City are doing work on potential replacements for Kevin De Bruyne.
And we can exclusively reveal that o🅷ne name that has eme꧂rged as a player of real interest is Charles De Ketelaere.
De Bruyne is out of contract at the end-of-the-season and is already holding talks about his f🎃uture, with a move to Ma𓆏jor League Soccer understood to be his favoured destination.
TBR Football exclusively revealed last year that new ML🌠S franchise San Diego were leading the chase to entice the Belgian superstar and🧸 they are confident of clinching his signature.
City and De Bruyne are on the same page when it comes to his future and they will part company on gooౠd terms.
This has also allowed City to progress with their work on options to come in and TBR Football 👍now under💖stands that Atalanta star De Ketelaere is emerging as a player of real interest.
Charles De Ketelaere career so far
De Ketelaere, a Belgian international like De Bruyne,🍰 has tไhus far endured a similar career path to that of his fellow countryman.
De Bru🤪yne began his career with Genk in his homeland before being snapped up by Chelsea.
However, things did not work out at Stamford Bridge and he resurrected his career in Germany, firstly with Werder Bremen and then Wolf💞sburg.
De Bruyne was then snapped up by Mﷺanchester City and the rest is🌸 history.
Likewise, 🦂De Ketelaere’s career has been somewhat similar.
He started with Club Brugge before a big more to AC Milan – but it did not work out for🍌 him, so he made a £20million move to Atalanta, where he is now starring.
| Competition | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Yellow cards | Red cards | Minutes |
| Serie A | 23 | 5 | 6 | 1 | – | 1.481′ |
| Champions League | 9 | 4 | 5 | – | – | 612′ |
| Italy Cup | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | 119′ |
| UEFA Super Cup | 1 | – | – | – | – | 62′ |
| Supercoppa Italiana | 1 | – | – | – | – | 34 |
| Total | 36 | 11 | 11 | 1 | – | 2.308′ |
And n🍬ow De Ketelaere – who will be 24 this꧑ summer, the age De Bruyne was when he joined City – could be following in his footsteps to the Etihad.
De Ketelaer🥃e has been described as a ‘complete’ player by Club Brugge icon Gert Verheyen.
Goal.com also compared the reported Etihad Stadium target – who has 20 caps for Belgium – to Liverpool c𝐆ult hero Roberto Firmino.
‘A naturally selfless player, De Ketelaere has taken to a𒆙cting as a ‘false nine’ as if it were a position he has played all his life,’ they wrote.
‘He is tasked with acting as a facilitator for others as well as with scoring goals himself – much like Roberto Firmino (then) at Liverpool –𝔍 and is thriving.’