De Bruyne's FA Cup Wish Ahead Of City Departure

There is no denying that the 2024/25 campaign for Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola has not gone how anyone had planned when we look back to last summer, but despite all the distractions that the club have faced this season and all the injuries that we have had to contend with, there is plenty left to play for in the games that remain in our domestic season.

Having slipped out of the Champions League, with the return of proper football this weekend we have an FA Cup quarter final tie with Bournemouth to look forward to and we go into that game as firm favourites to put ourselves back in the semi finals once again. Then there is the battle in the league to secure our place in the top four as a minimum to look forward to, and then our plans for a summer rebuild will begin as we juggle the incredibly lucrative and expanded Club World Cup competition.

Whilst there is plenty of talk about who our potential incomings may be, most of the speculation on the transfer window rumour mill right now concerns those players that may be leaving, and whilst it will not come as a great surprise to City fans, Kevin De Bruyne is said to be one of those players looking to move on and he is being pretty heavily linked with a switch to the United States and their MLS competition.

However, with the FA Cup on the horizon, it is being said that De Bruyne will only firm up his plans for a departure if he can go out on a high by lifting the historic English trophy once again, and sadly for the final time. Given his game time this year and his return to fitness many will expect to see him in Guardiola's starting line up for the clash and the likes of Betway continue to consider us as favourites, and with odds of a win this weekend at 6/5, it seems likely De Bruyne may get his wish.

For those expecting a tighter quarter final tie, Bournemouth come in at 15/8 to take an unexpected victory, with a draw hedged at 13/5, but even allowing for our more inconsistent form this campaign, we know what to expect from Bournemouth and we should be confident of coming out with a very positive result - not least so we can go into the tightly packed league fixtures that remain in the season with some momentum and real belief of getting back to our best.

With it being reported that our 33 year old skipper has already held tentative talks with MLS franchise San Diego given he will be out of contract come the summer, and it being claimed that it is incredibly unlikely that terms on a new deal for the eight time Premier League champion will be agreed, should we ultimately secure our return to Wembley Stadium and put our names on the iconic trophy once again, few fans out there would begrudge seeing the legend that is KDB move on for a new journey and he would go with our best wishes given everything that he has given us since his arrival back in 2015.

For now let's lift the cup and finish strongly in the league, then everything else will take care of itself.