Miami are in the mix for the Man City legend, but pairing the Belgian star with Lionel Messi would be a costly mistake
Kevin De Bruyne is leaving Manchester City. The Belgian announced it all pretty unceremoniously in a personal statement: "I'll get straight to it and let you all know that these will be my final months as a Manchester City player. Nothing about this is easy to write, but as football players, we all know this day eventually comes. That day is here – and you deserve to hear it from me first."
It was a bit snarky, all said. It has since emerged that he wasn't offered a new contract, and sort of ushered out of the door. To the outsider, this might be a bit unfair. De Bruyne has given a lot to the club over the years. They could, at the very least, feign interest in keeping him. But City need to rebuild, and soccer is a business – and a ruthless one, at that. Thanks for the memories, Kev. Enjoy your testimonial in 10 years.
Enter Inter Miami, who reportedly own his ML discovery rights. As a quick refresher, that means that the club can, in theory, negotiate with him before any other MLS side. That does not mean a deal is done – or even particularly close to being so. Rather, this is a vague expression of interest, a slight flirtation, a wink across the bar.
And this all, in theory, seems like a lot of fun. Bring on the passes. Show us the long-range bangers. Sell the shirts, pack the stands, bring in more fans (and, presumably, snag a few away from the City-group owned NYCFC.) But it would ultimately be an unwise venture, the wrong move for a club that has made all the right noises about smart roster construction.
In short, it would do more harm than good for a club that insiststhat it really wants to win.
Getty Images SportWhat KDB offers
It's worth looking at, first, what De Bruyne could bring to the table. Let's start with the obvious: De Bruyne is among the best midfielders in Premier League history. He is arguably the best player Belgium has ever produced. His catalogue of goals, usually smashed home from outside the box, is a joy to watch.
At various points over the course of his career he has played as a right midfielder, left midfielder, center midfielder, No .10, second striker, false nine and left winger. There are very few players in Premier League history as talented or versatile as De Bruyne. To call him a legend of the game would be neither overly flattering or inaccurate.
Pep Guardiola doesn't believe in individual stars that aren't named Lionel Messi. But De Bruyne has paced his teams for the best part of the decade. City will miss him.And that's where the good news ends.
There is a tiny problem here: De Bruyne's legs don't work anymore. Hamstring injuries have plagued him for years, reaching as far back as the 2021 Champions League final, which he was forced to exit early (City would go on to lose to Chelsea.) Since 2021, he has missed 79 games due to injury, and undergone significant surgery that saw him sit out most of the 2023-24 campaign.
He hasn't played a full season since 2018. He was never a player who relied on athleticism or a rapid change of pace. But asking him to put in a shift off the ball is a massive misuse of his talents. This is, admittedly, a pretty standard story. De Bruyne is 33, and has 35,000 minutes of league football alone in his legs. Human bodies are not supposed to do that.
No, this is not a player who is looking for a sunny "retirement league." But he can no longer play a whole season of football at the top level, either.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportBalance, balance, balance
And those weary legs are the issue. Two things need to be understood here. The first is that the MLS style of soccer is hard. There is a lot of running, off-ball work, and ground that needs to be covered. It has, historically, been poor to the kind of Premier League legends that De Bruyne could potentially succeed. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, for example, struggled here.
That wouldn't necessarily be a massive problem if De Bruyne was linked to a team that has willing runners, and no other stars. Miami is pretty much the last side in MLS who can offer that privilege.
Football teams are about balance, the ideal mix of attack and defense. It is trendy, in fact, to set up your team to defend while you have the ball. "Geggenpressing" and quick transitions are slowly falling out of favor. The game has slightly slowed down.
Watch Premier League title winners Liverpool, for example, and they often pass sideways – or even backwards – when they win possession, and allow everyone to settle into position. This is called "rest defense." In effect, you're setting up to get counter-attacked before it can actually happen.
The natural extension of that – and stay with me here – is that teams, more than anything, need fresh legs and physicality. Midfielders have to be more athletic, strong and tactically aware than ever. It is why, for example, Arsenal spent big on tackle-masters Mikel Merino and Ricardo Califiori last summer rather than chase down an elite striker. Sure, they were criticized at times, but it is that tactical nous and pure strength that got them to a Champions League semifinal.
Of course, it is seldom that simple. Not every footballer can attack and defend in equal measure. It would also be a waste of some talents to ask them to sacrifice their attacking chops for defensive responsibilities (not to mention the detrimental effect it can have on tired legs.) Telling Mo Salah, Vinicius Jr, or, Lionel Messi to press and regroup would compromise their strengths.
A smart coach would amend this by putting players around those virtuosos that can double their effort, or set up a system that counter-balances their lack of defensive impact. It is why Miami, shrewdly, signed Telasco Segovia and Tadeo Allende, both hard-working runners, to fill out the midfield and forward lines. Messi shouldn't run. Luis Suarez can't. Bring in the footballers who can cover those spaces.
Getty Images SportUndeniable defensive issues
And those signings, so far, have Miami humming. Allende and Segovia have added a mixture of industry and quality. Benjamin Cremaschi and Yannick Bright have provided the kind of legwork to make the Herons far more coherent as a unit. Lack of effort elsewhere has been made up for by doubling workloads on others.
Is that fair to Cremaschi, Allende, Segovia and Bright as individuals? Not particularly. But their personal sacrifice is making Miami much better. And let's face it, American fans lovea "glue guy" – the soccer equivalent of an NBA mid-first round draft pick who can guard four positions and knock down a corner three. OG Anunoboy, but in a football kit.
De Bruyne is not a glue guy. He is not a willing runner or great defender. His defensive numbers, in fact, are appalling. According to , among midfielders worldwide, he is in the fifth percentile in tackles, second in interceptions, first in blocks, second in clearances, and fifth in headers won. Statistically, there is quite literally no worse midfielder defensively in the sport.
This is an admittedly long-winded way of saying that De Bruyne's defensive deficiencies would create problems. Miami, remember, have already signed the runners to make up for one – or even two – passengers. Realistically, there cannot be a third. After that, it becomes simple math. Bring in De Bruyne, and you have to remove one of: Allende, Segovia, Bright or Cremaschi, all of whom make this team tick.
Unless you can sneak 12 players on the pitch, then signing De Bruyne is a defensive nightmare waiting to happen.
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Getty ImagesEnough of the ball to go around
For two years, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all played for PSG. It was, if you don't really care much about winning football matches, a lot of fun. Here were three of the greatest footballers of all time, thrown into the same team, and asked to sort of do things with the ball in some sort of coherent way.
There were some glorious moments, wonderful passages of play, and viral goals. But mostly, the trio spent their time on the pitch arguing. Messi wanted to take penalties, but so did Mbappe and Neymar. Neymar wanted to play on the left. So did Mbappe. What should have been this wonderfully fluid attacking trio became an awkward, clogged sort of thing, three greats never quite willing to compromise.
It's not hard to see a similar thing happening in Miami. Watch the Herons, and you will see a concerted effort to get Messi the ball at every possible opportunity. When Miami win it back, they find the Argentine and let him do his thing. Everyone else moves around him. That's not a problem, mostly because Messi is indeed good.
But De Bruyne is not necessarily that kind of player. He is an incisive, high-risk passer. He wants the ball, ideally quickly, to make the difficult play. Sure, his pass completion percentage (75.4) is frighteningly mediocre, but that's because he gets into the right spots to deliver the killer ball. He is not second on the all-time Premier League assist list because he plays it safe.
And that could be part of the problem here. De Bruyne needs the ball, in the right spot, to pick the right pass. Asking him to dump it off – yes, even to Lionel Messi – is a bit of a waste of his talents. And although he plays without ego – you have to be adaptable to play for Guardiola for almost a decade – there is only so much compromising a player can do at 33.