Pep: ‘Incredible Kevin deserves to take a break’
BOSS SAYS BELGIAN IS ONE OF MOST TALENTED PLAYERS HE HAS WORKED WITH
KEVIN de Bruyne will play through tiredness to help City’s trophy quest this season – but Pep Guardiola would like to give him a rest.
When the Belgian’s performances have not made him irreplaceable this season, the lack of any suitable replacements has.
With David Silva’s personal situation over the last two months exacerbated by problems with Fabian Delph and Phil Foden, it was little wonder that De Bruyne admitted to being tired from the first minute against Burnley.
Guardiola isn’t overly worried by those comments and believes his star man would happily play whenever required – his performance at Turf Moor hardly suffered as a result of fatigue.
However, his team-mates could club together to give him a break.
“In that period, I could not give him rest because David had some personal problems. It’s going well with his son but now the last three games he’s injured,” said Guardiola.
“Delph and Foden can play in that position but they’re injured so that’s why I couldn’t move a lot.
“Immediately when they can come we can give him some rest. For example, the last few minutes against West Brom, the last 15 minutes he came out.
“He’s played a lot of minutes and he deserves some rest but the other side is he’s such an important player for us.
“Every game he creates chances and helps us defensively and the fact we are there and fighting for important things – in that situation you are not tired.
“It’s difficult. But David is there and I missed [Ilkay] Gundogan a lot last season. The performance of Gundogan against Burnley was top, it just missed the last pass, the last action.
“Phil – he’s young and he needs to [physically] grow up but he’s ready to play for us as well. We are going to handle it.
“That’s why I’m not thinking about how we handle the next four games.
“Today – how is the team, tomorrow, recovery, then we will go to Basel and we are going to see.” De Bruyne’s incredible season has left his manager in the same position as everyone else, struggling to sum up just how good he has been.
Guardiola’s praise is significant, however, given the quality of stars he has coached at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
“He’s an incredible example for the rest of the players, for the academy and for the guys,” he said. “He’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in my life and without the ball, he makes a kind of intensity we have – every three days and every three days.”