Kevin De Bruyne has stated he may consider leaving Manchester City because of the “incredible money” on offer in Saudi Arabia, in a potential move that would be a blow to the Premier League champions.
De Bruyne joined City in August 2015 and is viewed as one of the club’s greatest players. Yet the Belgian will be 33 this month and is conscious of time ticking on his career.
“I still have one year left on my contract, so I have to think about what could happen,” De Bruyne told the Belgian newspaper HLN. “My eldest is now eight years old and knows nothing but England. He also asks how long I will play for City. Once the moment comes, we will have to deal with it in a certain way.”
De Bruyne earns about £400,000 a week, making him English football’s highest-paid player. But the sums on offer in Saudi Arabia are tempting.
“At my age you have to be open to everything,” he said. “You’re talking about incredible amounts of money in what may be the end of my career. Sometimes you have to think about that. If I play there for two years, I will be able to earn an incredible amount of money. Before that I had to play football for 15 years. I may not even reach that amount yet.
“Then you have to think about what that could mean next. But at the moment I haven’t had to think about that yet.”
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As a City player De Bruyne has won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, five Carabao Cups, the Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup. An integral member of City’s treble winners of 2022-23, he has twice been voted the Professional Footballers’ Association’s player of the year and been the Premier League playmaker of the season three times.