Kevin De Bruyne was honoured by Manchester Metropolis’s announcement that he can have a statue erected outdoors the Etihad Stadium, following his farewell look in opposition to Bournemouth on Tuesday.
Metropolis closed in on Champions League qualification with an enormous 3-1 victory, with Omar Marmoush, Bernardo Silva and Nico Gonzalez scoring.
Regardless of enduring a depressing Premier League title defence, Metropolis now know a draw at Fulham on the ultimate day of the season will certainly be sufficient to safe a top-five end.
After full-time, Metropolis waved farewell to one of many biggest gamers of their historical past, with De Bruyne making ready to depart after the membership opted in opposition to renewing his contract.
The Belgian missed an enormous probability to log off in type within the first half, rattling the crossbar with the purpose gaping from a possibility with an anticipated targets (xG) worth of 0.82.
However that would not put a dampener on his outing, with Metropolis honouring De Bruyne with a farewell ceremony and asserting that he might be immortalised outdoors the stadium, alongside former team-mates Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva.
“It means I’ll at all times be a part of this membership,” De Bruyne stated. “I at all times symbolize a small piece of that.
“Every time I come again with these guys and with household and pals, I will see myself standing across the stadium. I’ll at all times be right here.
We are going to honour @KevinDeBruyne’s unbelievable decade of service to the Membership by commissioning a particular statue celebrating the midfielder’s magnificent Etihad profession
— Manchester Metropolis (@ManCity) Could 20, 2025
“We perceive the place the membership has come to and why the membership means lots to lots of people.
“Collectively we’ve constructed an enormous future for you guys, for the membership to carry out the best way this membership will carry out.”
De Bruyne has received six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, 5 EFL Cups and the Champions League since arriving from Wolfsburg in 2015.
Solely David Silva (309) has bettered De Bruyne’s 284 Premier League appearances for Metropolis, whereas he’s second solely to Aguero (231) for whole purpose involvements for the membership within the competitors (190).
The 33-year-old additionally ranks second within the Premier League’s all-time assists charts with 118, behind Manchester United nice Ryan Giggs (162).
By creating two probabilities on Tuesday, De Bruyne additionally moved stage with Cesc Fabregas for essentially the most goalscoring alternatives created within the league since Opta started recording such knowledge in 2003-04, with 846.
De Bruyne was a part of the Metropolis group that misplaced 1-0 to Crystal Palace in Saturday’s FA Cup closing, making certain they may finish a season with out a main trophy for the primary time since 2016-17.
@KevinDeBruyne pic.twitter.com/yKNlbdFwev
— Manchester Metropolis (@ManCity) Could 20, 2025
However De Bruyne is certain Metropolis might be again, saying: “I do know there’s been a little bit of a tricky yr for us, however I feel the group deserves all of the assist from you guys.
“I do know they’re pushing actually laborious and this group might be again subsequent yr pushing for all of the titles, so that they deserve this.”