With Man City being the current Premier League, European and World Champions, it would really take a stratospheric offer to persuade any of their current first team stars to jump ship from the Etihad Stadium.
If there’s one league that can blow all others out of the water, however, it’s the Saudi Pro League.
Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo arrived, there has been a steady stream of high-profile stars from leagues across Europe that have been persuaded to swap top-level football for a huge pay day.
Clearly, the SPL aren’t just around for the short term, and with another transfer window on the horizon, they’re targeting one of Pep Guardiola’s best players. Perhaps one of the greatest in Man City’s history; Kevin De Bruyne.
There is history between the Belgian and the Saudis of course.
“Kevin De Bruyne is always getting better and we’ve heard many stories about Saudi,” Fabrizio Romano noted in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside.
“From what I’m hearing guys, last summer even before the Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter in Istanbul, Saudi Arabian clubs sent intermediaries to negotiate with Kevin De Bruyne and to make a proposal.
“But in that moment, in June of last year, De Bruyne had no interest and wanted to stay at Man City.”
Will Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne move to the Saudi Pro League?
With money to burn, that rebuttal hasn’t stopped the league from wanting to go back and try again.
“Saudi clubs still want him and they will try again,” Romano added.
“We’ll have to see the reaction on the player side this time because Kevin at the moment is not negotiating with any club – he wants to do something special again with City in the second half of the season.
“Then we will see in the summer what they will offer from Saudi.
“So it’s going to be a discussion first of all with Man City regarding his current contract, if they want to extend that or not, then it’s going to be time to understand what’s going to happen. We will see.”
Whether City will decide to extend De Bruyne’s contract will largely author what comes next.
From Guardiola’s point of view, it’s clear that the team can cope without him given then he’s missed much of this season with injury, but his importance to the team is obvious.