MANCHESTER: Kevin De Bruyne can add another honor to his haul as Manchester City\u2019s most decorated player of all time with a fitting farewell in Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
The Belgian\u2019s trophy-littered decade in Manchester will come to an end at the conclusion of the Premier League season.
\nBut Wembley\u2019s showpiece is the 33-year-old\u2019s final chance to lift silverware at the club where he grew into one of world\u2019s best players.
\nA six-time Premier League winner, De Bruyne could add a third FA Cup to his five League Cups and 2023 Champions League win with City.
\nHe has expressed his \u201csurprise\u201d that City did not seek to extend his stay, filled with the belief that he can still perform at the highest level.
\nDe Bruyne rolled back the years when City rallied from 2-0 down to thrash Palace 5-2 just last month with a goal and an assist.
\nCity will be hoping for more of the same to give him a fitting farewell and save some face from a season to forget for Pep Guardiola\u2019s men.
\nAfter an unprecedented run of four consecutive Premier League titles, City are 18 points adrift of champions Liverpool and embroiled in a battle just to finish in the top five to secure a place in next season\u2019s Champions League.
\nDe Bruyne\u2019s decline has played a factor in City\u2019s downturn.
\nOf his 108 goals and 177 assists for the club in 419 appearances, only six and eight respectively have come this season.<\/p>\n
However, he remains \u201cirreplaceable\u201d due to his impact in City\u2019s rise to being the dominant force in English football, according to the club\u2019s prolific striker Erling Haaland.
\n\u201cTo get the balls from him is a dream,\u201d said Haaland. \u201cIt has been really special playing with him. Such a joy, and I am going to do everything I can to have this joy in the last few games.
\n\u201cThe future will be different with different players. When Kevin leaves we will need someone to replace him, although Kevin is irreplaceable in so many ways.\u201d
\nGuardiola has appeared almost apologetic for overlooking De Bruyne at times this season as he searched for solutions to fill the gaps in City\u2019s aging midfield.
\n\u201cThe gratitude I have, we have, is huge,\u201d said Guardiola.
\n\u201cKevin is the player in the history of the club with the most titles and that defines what Kevin has done with us.\u201d
\nA giant mural of De Bruyne alongside his trophy haul as a City player was unveiled in Manchester city center on Thursday.
\nGuardiola has suggested a statue outside the club\u2019s Etihad Stadium is also just a matter of time.
\nBut after a decade most characterised by a relentless thirst to keep on winning, the most fitting tribute would be for De Bruyne to go out with another medal around his neck.
\n\u201cThe whole team only has one thought and that\u2019s to try and get the trophy and to make the day special for Kevin,\u201d said City midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
\n\u201cFor what he\u2019s done, he deserves to leave like a champion which he obviously is.
\n\u201cHe is a massive figure in City\u2019s success, and he will be remembered as one of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANCHESTER: Kevin De Bruyne can add another honor to his haul as Manchester City\u2019s most decorated player of all time with a fitting farewell in Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace. The Belgian\u2019s trophy-littered decade in Manchester will come to an end at the conclusion of the Premier League season. But Wembley\u2019s showpiece is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":81105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81110,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81094\/revisions\/81110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}