Pep Guardiola’s heartwarming behind-the-scenes training ground speech for Kevin De Bruyne revealed | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola issued a wholesome speech in front of the squad last week, recognising a remarkable landmark achieved by Kevin De Bruyne.

The legendary Belgium international reached an outstanding 400 appearances for the reigning Premier League champions during their 4-1 home top-flight win over West Ham at the start of the year, having heavily contributed to the club’s success since arriving in 2015.

De Bruyne remains an integral part of Pep Guardiola’s plans despite his age and uncertain contractual future, and there has been no resolution or update on the latter despite the midfielder being free to discuss a potential free agent move at the end of the season.

For now, Manchester City remain ever-grateful for the attacking midfielder’s presence in their team and his ongoing contributions to the club’s history, as highlighted by a special training ground moment last week.

As captured by official club media staff, Pep Guardiola was keen to recognise Kevin De Bruyne’s outstanding landmark of appearances for Manchester City by giving a speech on the training ground in front of the entire first-team roster.

“On behalf of all the team, I’d like to give you this (a special edition Manchester City shirt); Kevin (De Bruyne), please can you come here? 10 years here and this incredible milestone, you have done it! A thousand million games, a thousand million trainings,” Guardiola said.

“Before we arrived, you were here, before all of us. That’s why congratulations, you deserve it. I’d love to take a picture together, I’d love to have it with all of us. It’s on behalf of all the team, the staff, backroom staff, players, everyone – this is a representation of all of us.”

De Bruyne himself then gave a few words to the squad as he exclaimed, “It’s been an honour to be here so long. I wanted to come somewhere where I settled and it’s been an incredible journey.

“You guys helped me achieve everything I wanted, so thank you guys for pushing me, pushing yourselves.”

Kevin De Bruyne is likely to remain an integral part of the Manchester City squad, even while his future at the club remains uncertain, although frank conversations over his contract are likely to come in the next few weeks.