Kevin De Bruyne’s protracted move to Manchester City is finally nearing completion after Wolfsburg’s sporting director confirmed he will be joining Manuel Pellegrini’s squad.
After weeks of negotiations City made the significant breakthrough on Wednesday night when they agreed a deal worth an initial €74m (£54m) with Wolfsburg, with bonuses potentially taking that figure beyond the €80m (£58.5m) mark.
The only sticking point remaining was to work out how the payment would be structured and to complete a medical but the German club’s sporting director, Klaus Allofs, revealed before Wolfsburg’s Bundesliga match against Schalke on Friday night that the deal has now been confirmed.
“We will complete everything either tonight or tomorrow. De Bruyne is off to Manchester City,” he told reporters.
A private jet has been standing by since Wednesday to take De Bruyne and his agent, Patrick De Koster, to Manchester to complete his medical, with City anticipating he will be officially announced as their record signing at some point on Saturday. The Belgium midfielder was pictured in the stands alongside De Koster as he watched the match against Schalke and is expected to sign a contract worth a staggering £14m a season in wages.
De Bruyne made 51 appearances for Wolfsburg last season, scoring 16 times and contributing 28 assists. The German side are also set to sell Ivan Perisic to Internazionale after the forward was omitted for the game against Schalke.
They have been linked with a move for Schalke’s Julian Draxler, who started Friday’s match at the Volkswagen Arena.
