Guardiola confident on De Bruyne deal as star rejects opening offer from City

Pep Guardiola is confident Kevin De Bruyne will sign a new deal with Manchester City.

De Bruyne has rejected the club’s initial contract extension offer, believing he deserves to be paid more than City are offering.

City’s most influential player is on £280,000 a week but wants a significant hike on that figure for what will probably be the 29-year-old’s last big contract.

The Blues are understood to have offered De Bruyne around £300,000 a week but the Belgium star and his representatives are holding out for more.

Despite the initial stumbling block, City manager Guardiola is unconcerned and convinced De Bruyne will eventually put pen to paper on a new deal.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll stay but at the same time we have to respect the process,” said Guardiola.

“I don’t know what’s going on because I didn’t speak with Txiki (Begiristain, City’s sporting director).

“But Kevin knows how we appreciate him, not just as a football player, but as a person and how important he is at the club.

“I’m not worried but, at the end, of course it’s his decision.”

Guardiola goes into Wednesday night's Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester United with a maximum of 15 senior players at his disposal, after his squad was hit by an outbreak of Covid-19.

“We don’t have many players,” said Guardiola. “To play one or two games is okay but if this sustains for a long time and I can only use 14 or 15 players, it will be more difficult.

“The most important thing is that the guys who have Covid can recover well and the guys handle it well and try to avoid it as much as possible.”

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