Manchester City Playermaker Kevin De Bruyne has left Manchester City this morning to join shocking Saudi Arabia Club

As of late, Pep Guardiola hasn’t been in the mood to talk at press appearances. He had something to say after Manchester City’s win at Bournemouth when he said that his team was tired. But in general, he has been like a manager who is getting tired of meeting with the media all the time.

Because of the words about being tired, not many people were looking forward to the FA Cup preview for the trip to Luton. And Guardiola likes to surprise people. He was in a much better mood when he talked to the cameras about City’s “defining” March schedule of games, Jack Grealish’s fitness, and how teams like Liverpool and Arsenal have been enjoying recent wins.

Guardiola was also very talkative during the part of the press meeting that was not open to the public. When asked about Kevin De Bruyne’s future and taking over for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, he wouldn’t say anything directly, but what he did say was interesting coming from the City boss.

Links between De Bruyne and Saudi Arabia
It was only a matter of time before another big name basketball player was linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League. He is a big name, over 30 years old, and may want one last big paycheck before getting old. The reports were true or false, but Guardiola told reporters to ask the Belgian himself. He did say that he wants his star player to stay and finish his career at the Etihad.

The boss told him, “I’d love for him to stay, but I don’t know.” “I’ve heard of some connections, but I don’t know if there’s an offer or if Saudi Arabia wants him.” I’d love for him to stay until the end of his career, but “everyone is everyone.”

City has a long-standing strategy of not getting in the way of a player who wants to leave and makes a good offer. Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte both left the Etihad Stadium for Saudi Arabia in the summer, leaving for a total of £55 million. De Bruyne is signed to City until 2025, which is just seven years from now.

Can Alonso take over for Klopp at Liverpool?
Jurgen Klopp got another prize on his farewell tour when Liverpool won the Carabao Cup on Sunday. Guardiola was asked if Klopp’s departure would make his job easier or harder. “Liverpool will get a good manager, but they will lose a great manager,” the City manager said.

Later, Guardiola wouldn’t say anything about reports that Xabi Alonso was being considered for the Liverpool job, but he did rave about how well his former Bayern Munich midfielder is doing at the top of the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. The manager said, “If you ask me what job he’s doing, honestly… Wow.” He was referring to his team’s perfect record in all games. “He was such a smart football player.” This player is so smart.”

Guardiola went on to say that because Alonso was such a good player, he had always thought he would become a manager. During the interview, he said, “There are holding midfielders who are so interested in the game that when they ask you questions, you realise that this guy will say, ‘OK, I’m going back. My business is world football.'”

“Normally holding midfielders like him, [Javier] Mascherano, [Sergio] Busquets, the holding midfielders I had, Rodri, [Ilkay] Gundogan, they will be involved in football for sure because they have a global vision, the perspective is different.”

If Alonso does take over for Klopp on Merseyside next season, could we see another master vs. student match-up in the Premier League?

Make progress towards last year’s points total
Guardiola said he couldn’t remember what the mood was like this time last season when asked. Really, that’s fine, after everything that’s happened in the past year. People thought that City wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders when they lost to Tottenham in February 2023, which is close to how they are playing now.

But Guardiola does remember that City has more points now than they did at this point last season, thanks to consistent wins and, mostly, performances. When it’s easy to see any performance by City that isn’t perfect as a disaster, the manager keeps their eye on the bigger picture.

“We have one more point than last season in the Premier League right now,” he said. “But Liverpool has a lot. They were seventh in the league at this point and are now first.” They have five, six, or seven more points than they do now, but look at how they’re playing. It goes up and down.

“We’re like we were last season. I don’t remember how things were in February of last year, but I think we were five or six points behind Arsenal. I thought, “We have them at home. Maybe we can turn things around there.” They didn’t stick with the rhythm they had in the first half of the season to score 50 points. If they had, we wouldn’t have been able to catch them even if we played unbelievably well. There are now three teams, and Villa is one of them. Spurs still have a game to play. There are three teams, and each has one point. Anything can happen.

Bobb’s shopping trip
Guardiola told Oscar Bobb about his new deal earlier in the afternoon, and then told the young player to enjoy his pay rise. The news was confirmed on Monday night. He quickly took back what he said, but he did praise a player who had made it from the school to the first team.

“Without application he would not be here, his commitment, work ethic,” Guardiola said. “Now Oscar has the hardest part. Play is the easiest one. Just show up and make an impression. The really hard one is to stay there for a long time. When you play, do well to win more money, and when you play for longer, you win even more money.

“That’s the hardest part.” For a young player to show up and play, millions of other players have already done it. However, being in the Premier League with Man City for a very long time is the hardest thing.

De Bruyne is all set to play.
Kevin De Bruyne is ready to start again for City, even if their next game is in the Cup. This is good news for Fantasy Football staffs. Guardiola revealed that De Bruyne was on the bench at Bournemouth for tactical reasons. He said, “At the start, his restart was very different than with Erling, who needed time because it was a bone injury; Kevin was muscular and out for four or five months.”

“After he needed a lot of minutes, after playing two or three from the start, and after a setback because of the niggles, he said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable.’ He had something in his muscle, and I told him to stay on the bench and maybe play in the second half of the game against Bournemouth because of how they play.” We’ll see you tomorrow. It’s okay, though.