Football
ESPN staff 9y

Kevin De Bruyne joins Manchester City from Wolfsburg for £54m

Manchester City have signed Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg.

De Bruyne, who cost City around £54 million, has signed a six-year contract at the Etihad Stadium.

Former Chelsea midfielder De Bruyne, voted the best outfield player in the Bundesliga last season, told his new club's official website: "I want to reach the highest level possible as a player and I think the most important thing is that at the end of the season we can be happy and maybe have some titles.

"I think this is the most important for the club, the players and for the fans of course."

City boss Manuel Pellegrini added: "We are very happy to have added Kevin to our team and I have no doubt that he will be a big success on his return to the Premier League.

"It takes a special footballer to improve our squad and I have no doubt that Kevin is certainly one of those -- he has all of the mental, physical, tactical and technical attributes required to fit straight in.

"We like to play attractive, attacking football and bringing in a player like De Bruyne will only aid us as we fight on four fronts."

Wolfsburg had maintained for some time this summer that De Bruyne would remain at the Volkswagen Arena but eventually relented after the Belgium international rejected their efforts to renew his contract.

The German club's sporting executive, Klaus Allofs, confirmed that the clubs were in talks on Thursday and said City had made De Bruyne an "astonishing" salary offer. 

The 24-year-old, who sat out Wolfsburg's 3-0 win over Schalke on Friday and was pictured at Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport on Saturday morning, returns to England just a year-and-a-half after leaving Chelsea.

De Bruyne had moved to Stamford Bridge from Genk in 2012 but, after returning to the Belgian side on loan and then spending a season at Werder Bremen, he was unable to make an impact under Jose Mourinho during the brief time he spent with his parent club.

Wolfsburg then paid £18m to sign him in January 2014, and he became a leading star in the team as they finished runners-up in the Bundesliga last season as well as winning the DFB Pokal.

De Bruyne can operate as a No. 10 or out wide and his arrival takes City's summer spending to around £150m following the signings of Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph, Enes Unal, Patrick Roberts and Nicolas Otamendi earlier this summer.

Wolfsburg, who agreed a deal for Bayern Munich defender Dante on Sunday, could bring in Schalke midfielder Julian Draxler as De Bruyne's replacement.

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