After Kevin De Bruyne had rolled the years ago with a match -winning version to see Man City beyond Wolves on Friday evening football, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards had several points of view about whether the Belgian should have stayed in Etihad for another year.
Last month, De Bruyne announced that he would leave the club where he won six Premier League titles in a decade, before he later revealed that he was “surprised” that he had not received an extension of his current deal, which ends at the end of June.
The 33-year-old had added that he had the feeling that he could still perform at “the highest level” and showed some proof of this in his performance against Wolves, so that City's most successful last third fits and ended in a turnover in a turnover alongside the only goal of the game.
Sky Sports News understands that Aston Villa has held internal conversations about a possible free transfer movement for the experienced midfielder.
Former Man City defender Richards said he could understand the frustrations of De Bruyne to be released, despite his age and declining fitness that limited him to only 17 starts this season.
He said: “Maybe he didn't have the press that man city wants to stop, but in terms of quality, he believes he can still play at the highest level. I believe him.
“Speaking with many city fans, they like it that he is going this season so that he can leave at a peak. A few weeks ago he said that he feels free for the first time, where he feels a bit more mobile and flexible.
“Getting ages catches up, he is 33 years old, and your body cannot do certain things you want. But you look at Man City's ownership statistics, he keeps the ball really good and scores a vital goal. His football information is still there.
“Maybe he tells the manager that he is still good enough to play at this level.”
Jamie Carragher told the Friday evening football that he was more inclined to make Manchester City's decision to go the midfielder.
De Bruyne also made only 15 starts in the Premier League for the club last year and missed 13 games in 2020/21. He has a total of 257 of the 339 league matches under Pep Guardiola.
Carragher said he found that the important wages of De Bruyne were difficult to justify, because a player of his status and quality would be more orders than the club would be willing to pay for his potentially limited performances.
“I can understand where the club comes from. I think it is different from what happened to Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk because they play every week,” he said.
“I think he is one of the best paid players in probably world football, and rightly so. He has been wounded a lot in the last two years, so it is difficult to justify for Manchester City from a business point of view, to give him a new contract.
“If you have a club like this, and we know with PSR and all the different things that go, you can't afford to have someone on that kind of wages who don't play every week should be for one of your star players.
“Now he is still a star player, but he is not going to play every week, he will probably play 20 to 25 games per season.
“Something that Gary Neville said, when you think of the Manchester United boys, all came to that certain age, Gary was one of them, perhaps Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, where they stay there and pass them on their experience, they dive in and out of games.
“I am sure they were paid very well, but the figures we now have with Kevin De Bruyne, it is probably one of the best paid players in the world, he does not play every weekend, and Manchester City as a company cannot justify that.”
De Bruyne: I don't know what the future has in store
The man himself told Sky Sports that he was not wiser about his future, despite playing what will probably be his penultimate home game for Man City on Friday evening.
But after a third target contribution in four games, De Bruyne repeated his own conviction that he needs what is needed to keep playing at the same level for a club.
“I just try to play as well as possible,” he said. 'I know I have one more game left [at the Etihad]But I just try to do my work as I always did.
“I am proud of what I do and it has always been.
“Many teammates have spoken to me, they are sad that I leave, but sometimes it is how things are going. The way I perform and trade is how everyone should be.
“Don't know [what the future holds]Unfortunately. I have shown that I can still play here or I would not have done what I have done for the past four or five weeks. That is it from my point of view. “