Kevin De Bruyne has confirmed he will leave Manchester City when his contract expires this summer and Mikel Arteta has been told he should try and bring him to Arsenal
Mikel Arteta has been told by Jamie O'Hara that he should be doing whatever he can to persuade Kevin De Bruyne to swap Manchester City for Arsenal when he departs the Etihad at the end of the season.
De Bruyne, 33, announced last month that he would be leaving the former Premier League champions in the summer. It has since emerged that City informed the Belgium international that they would not be offering him an extension to his current deal, which expires at the end of June.
The former Wolfsburg man has already been linked with clubs in the United States but he has also refused to rule out playing for another team in England.
And O'Hara says that pursuing a deal for the player who has been City's orchestrator-in-chief during a period of sustained success is a no-brainer for an Arsenal side who have failed to win the Premier League title in successive years.
The former Tottenham midfielder said on Sky Sports: “Every team in the Premier League would take Kevin De Bruyne. If he is genuinely going to go, Mikel Arteta knows him, he should get straight on the phone and say: ‘Come and sign for Arsenal, we’ll win the league with you. I’m going to sign a striker, I’m going to have you in midfield. We’ll sort it out with you and Odegaard.’
“They’ve got Champions League football. I would be straight on the phone, give him whatever he wants, get him in that team because he’s a winner, he knows how to win, and he is still a top player. It makes a huge difference.”
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De Bruyne has been open about the circumstances behind his City exit, including the details of how the decision was relayed to him. Intriguingly, he refused to rule out staying in the Premier League when the idea was put to him after City beat Everton last month.
“It came as a bit of a shock. I’m open for anything (including staying in the Premier League),” he told reporters. “I have to look at the whole picture, sporting, the family, everything together, what makes the most sense for my family. I don’t know what it is. It depends on when you speak to people about projects and things.”