As Soccerblog had reported a week ago, the tea leaves were all there. Kevin De Bruyne is set to be a Man City player, their most expensive yet. And the second most expensive transfer in the Premier League. All said and done with additives, the fee will be around $85 to $90m. De Bruyne will also benefit handsomely getting paid $387000 per week or close to $20m annually. Thus ends this season’s summer saga. Unless, Real Madrid springs a last minute De Gea surprise or Barca’s paid a $350m ransom for Neymar to come to Utd.
For a more in depth look at how this all played out, Rafael Honigstein has the goods. Bayern was in the running but only as a buyer of a prospective player for the next season but that carried a risk of an injury. Plus, the Bundesliga champions have Douglas Costa who’s been settling down nicely.
De Bruyne’s not been included in the line up to play Schalke this Friday. The Belgian is expected to fly in Thursday for a medical and on Friday he’ll be officially announced.
That’ll also be the day some clubs who thought they were in the running can officially cede the title. Not really. No really. Jose Mourinho can expect to keep regurgitating the De Bruyne as “prima donna” in his press conferences.