DE BRUYNE’S REAL CLASS City star’s agent turns down Bernabeu invite to avoid transfer talk as Pep hails ‘special’ midfielder
■■Manchester City have won the League Cup six times, a tally surpassed only by Liverpool (eight). City have won the trophy in four of the last six seasons. The only team to win it three years in a row are Liverpool, who won it four years in a row between 1981 and 1984.
KEVIN DE BRUYNE’S agent turned down the chance to take a seat in the Bernabeu to watch the midfielder’s masterclass against Real Madrid.
Patrick De Koster feared appearing in the Spanish capital on Wednesday night would fuel speculation he is already negotiating the Belgian’s departure from Manchester City.
Instead, he satisfied himself with an HD TV view as De Bruyne produced a performance that made a mockery of suggestions it will cost only £200million to prise him from the Etihad if City’s two-year Champions League ban is confirmed on appeal.
Pep Guardiola had made his No.17 his captain for the night – and he responded by setting up an equaliser for Gabriel Jesus before slotting home the penalty to gave City a famous win.
At 28, De Bruyne is approaching the peak years of his career. City fans call him “Colin Belgium” for the way he evokes memories of Colin Bell (right), the club’s greatest player.
After insisting he can no longer find words to describe how good the Belgian is ahead of today’s Carabao Cup final, Guardiola then lavished the kind of praise that suggested he’d be next out of the Etihad door if City ever sold their most prized asset.
“It’s not necessary for me to say anything about Kevin any more,” said the City boss. “Just take a look at how he plays. His performance level, the continuity, the influence in the final third and our finishing. The desire, his calmness and positivity.
“I asked him, ‘Kevin, what did you feel before you took that penalty?’ He just said, ‘I’m going to score’.
“He doesn’t feel pressure. He likes to play in big events. He sees something special and the spaces no one else can see – he’s improving and improving.
“I think he crossed to Gabriel without knowing Gabriel was there. He was thinking, ‘Gabriel, you have to be there’. That’s the best way to express the talent Kevin has.”
Guardiola felt De Bruyne was the Premier League’s best player two years ago when City became the first team to win a century of points on their way to the title.
It still rankles with the Catalan that Liverpool’s Mo Salah won both the PFA and FWA footballer of the year awards.
De Bruyne missed much of last season with knee injuries as City retained the title and became the first club to win a domestic treble by lifting the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
Guardiola refuses to accept any credit for the way the former Genk, Chelsea and Wolfsburg star has raised the bar again this season.
He said: “Honestly, with these types of players , the challenge comes from inside themselves.
“If you have to push them to be something special, they are not big. I don’t believe too much in trying to seduce them to become better players.
“The big things in sport always come from inside the players. Not the trainers.
“The one detail that all the best players have is to never complain, because they know it is up to them to become better day by day.
“Unfortunately, when Kevin helped us get 100 points, he still wasn’t good enough to be the best player in the league. Maybe in the future.”