KEVIN DE BRUYNE claims Manchester City’s record £210million summer splurge was necessary to rejuvenate their ageing squad.

City have been the Premier League’s biggest spenders, splashing the cash to land the likes of Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva, while they also want Alexis Sanchez and Jonny Evans.

De Bruyne has defended their huge outlay, claiming Pep Guardiola needed new blood to replace all their departed players.

“Everybody invests a lot,” said the Belgium star. “We invested a lot of money on six or seven players while Manchester United spent a little bit less money for three players, so maybe they spent on average more money than us.

“Other teams like Tottenham didn’t really spend but we had a lot of players released so we needed players to come in otherwise we wouldn’t have had a big enough squad.

“A lot of the older players were released and we bought players who were almost all 23 or under so it’s a new team.

“It’s a new project and it takes time and it takes money.”

De Bruyne is pleased Liverpool made it through to the Champions League group stage because he feels both they and Chelsea benefited last season from not being in Europe.

The Etihad playmaker said the record five English sides in Europe’s elite competition are now all in the same boat.

“The Champions League is the biggest cup for club teams to play, and I think everybody wants to compare clubs in the biggest leagues,” said De Bruyne ahead of today’s trip to Bournemouth.

“It’s very good for England to have five teams in it. Everybody is on the same schedule when it comes to fixtures so it can be very exciting for the Premier League.”

If City are going to be successful they know they will need to turn their domination into goals. On Monday night against Everton they carved out 19 chances but converted only one.

Sub Raheem Sterling grabbed a late equaliser in the 1-1 draw, and City boss Pep Guardiola could field him from the start at Bournemouth today.

“Hopefully the goal he scored in the last game can help his confidence,” said the Spaniard.

“With a goal he gains confidence. He can now say: ‘I’m going to score a goal.’ I hope the strikers understand that..

“We are going to try to find the chance to be confident, and one day it is going to click and we are going to score a lot of goals.”