Kevin de Bruyne wants new Manchester City deal with Pep Guardiola‘s new-look side scorching the Premier League
KEVIN DE BRUYNE is keen to sign an improved deal at Manchester City — and right now who can blame him.
The Belgian superstar is in the form of his life and would get into any team in the world at present.
For an attack-minded player it surely cannot get much better than Pep Guardiola’s new-look City.
Top of the table and a whopping 16 goals in their last three Premier League matches — or 22 from five in all competitions if you would rather.
Club legend and ambassador Mike Summerbee at the weekend dubbed City “close to perfection”.
Liverpool (5-0), Watford (6-0) and now Crystal Palace — thrashed 5-0 at the Etihad on Saturday — can console themselves with the fact that plenty of teams will get a hiding from Guardiola’s men this season.
Stoke and Burnley, who visit the Etihad the week after the early October international break, are probably saying their prayers already.
De Bruyne has been pivotal to it all so far and, with four years still remaining on his existing deal, he is ready to sign on for longer.
The £54million man, who arrived from Wolfsburg in August 2015, said: “I am very happy at City. Everything is going well for me. I have no reason to go anywhere else. The project at City is superb so it’s best for me.
“There has not really been talks regarding a contract but the club spoke with my agent in the summer.
“They asked for time to sort out the transfers and said we’ll speak after.
“That will soon happen but I’m not thinking it has to happen fast.
“I have four years on my contract. Whether I’m four, five or six years under contract it’s not much different.
“But it’s nice for me and it proves the confidence that City have in me.”
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The worry for City’s forthcoming opponents is they are not in top gear.
In the first half against Palace, they were not close to being at their best.
Not until Leroy Sane’s dazzling skills put them ahead. The German winger is an example of how Pep is keeping his players on their toes.
He was dropped for a lacklustre start to the season but came storming back with two goals against Liverpool and the same at West Brom.
Here he also created two second-half goals in a Man-of-the-Match display — yet his season should serve as a warning to his team-mates.
Boss Guardiola said: “The players know it and they feel it. They know the players alongside them are all playing well, that is the best way.
“You aren’t going to have every player playing three games in a row for 11 months, so we need competition.
“If the next guy is playing good, they have to play good. They have to keep winning. That’s how you get the best performances. We need Ilkay Gundogan back to put pressure on Kevin and David Silva.
“Danilo, the way he played at left-back was outstanding, how aggressive he was in defence and attack. Everybody has to push the others.”
It seems to be working so far — although Palace nearly took a shock first-half lead through Ruben Loftus-Cheek before City clicked into gear.
Right on half-time, Silva’s chipped through ball was controlled by Sane, who lifted the ball over Scott Dann before slotting under Wayne Hennessey.
The second half was a different story as Palace caved in and Sane crossed for Raheem Sterling, who could hardly miss.
On the hour, Sergio Aguero squared for the England forward to score his second of the day and put the result beyond doubt.
Aguero got his goal — which took him to 176, one off Eric Brook’s all-time club record — when he nodded in Sane’s fabulous centre.
That’s 48 goals in his last 53 Premier League starts now for the Argentine and it won’t be long now until he is into the history books.
And sub Fabian Delph rounded off a move involving more than 30 passes by curling a delicious shot into the top corner.
It means City are the first top-flight team to score five or more in three consecutive league games since Blackburn almost 60 years ago.
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Palace boss Roy Hodgson has been around a while and he was struck by the hunger and ruthlessness of City and Guardiola. In the first half Pep had a word with a ball-boy for not getting it back in play quick enough.
And with the game long since won, the Etihad chief was off his bench and screaming for a penalty when Sane went down.
Hodgson said: “The thing is that City are a team that gets better and stronger as the game goes on.
“When they score three, they want to score four. Pep’s going crazy for a penalty at 4-0 and I’m thinking, ‘You don’t need that!’
“They’ve got incredible quality and they are going to cause a lot of teams a lot of problems. When they’re one up they don’t show any mercy.”
Mark Hughes, Sean Dyche — you have been warned.
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