Kevin De Bruyne and football's loyalty lie

To clubs like Manchester City, loyalty in football is simply transactional.

There’s two interesting case studies in loyalty playing out in football right now. On one hand, you have Trent Alexander-Arnold who for various reasons has entered a situation where he has all the power over his future. On the other, you have Kevin De Bruyne — a Manchester City legend and one of the best midfielders to ever play in the Premier League — being discarded by the club at the end of his contract this summer.

In the first case, you have a player keeping his cards close to his chest. Even after his winner against Leicester at the weekend, prompting him to tear his shirt off in an impassioned celebration in front of the away support, we have no idea whether or not he wants to stay at the club that’s molded him since the age of six.

In De Bruyne’s case, we have a player who is very obviously a bit miffed at the situation he finds himself in at the club he’s dedicated his 10 best years in football to. He’s 34 in June, with substantial mileage on his legs. It makes sense to move on from him from a cold and calculated point of view that football clubs are increasingly operating from. But should it?

One of the reasons I suspect Trent is drunk on the power he currently finds himself in is the consideration that one day he might be in De Bruyne’s shoes. He’s assisted dozens of goals, contributed to title victories and been a club hero to many. Alexander-Arnold likely fashioned a lot of his game on De Bruyne. The range of passing, the creativity to see and concoct moves that most don’t, the ability to dictate games from deeper positions. Many wondered if Trent could even play in the centre like De Bruyne and although he never cracked the position, you can’t deny their impacts for their respective teams have been broadly similar.

So he’s choosing to carefully consider what loyalty means to him. Because in sport and football nowadays, loyalty is mostly transactional and, as De Bruyne is coming to learn, has a shelf life. You are needed until you are no longer needed — City have done the math and it’s a straightforward decision for them. It’s almost a “I don’t recall saying good luck” conversation.

There was a time — or at least, we like to believe there was — when loyalty in football was mutual. You gave your prime years to a club, lifted trophies, led the team, and in return, you got a testimonial, a send-off, maybe even a cushy backroom role. The club owed you “something”.

De Bruyne defined this generation of Manchester City dominance more than any other player. The likes of David Silva and Sergio Aguero came before him but neither were the heartbeat of Pep Guardiola’s system like the Belgian was. One of the greatest Premier League midfielders of all time. And yet — no contract offer.

"I have not had any offer the whole year, they just took a decision," said De Bruyne.

"Obviously, I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it. Honestly, I still think I can perform at this level like I'm showing, but I understand clubs have to make decisions."

As sport pulls apart so many threads of the games that we glorify, the fans are truly the last romantics. Fans still believe in loyalty. Clearly, De Bruyne still does too but that won’t be rewarded. Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk have pledged their loyalty to Liverpool in similar moments in their careers and the club have responded.

But in this moment for a club like Manchester City, loyalty is a cost — not an asset. City’s struggles this season are undoubtedly part of the equation. Given the composition of their squad they’re likely to go through a transition phase or at least one of great investment over the next summer or two, and moving away from De Bruyne gives them much more room to operate.

Which is something very difficult to accept for a highly competitive figure like De Bruyne, who is being told he is no longer capable of contributing to the club forward. It’s a difficult moment for any top athlete to contend with that he might no longer have it. Despite his advancing age and growing injury list, De Bruyne clearly feels different to that of Guardiola and the City decision makers.

"I like to play football. I like to compete.”

Well, the club are telling him he can’t compete well enough for them to warrant even a courtesy contract renewal after 10 years of exemplary service.

“That's what I feel, so I can't say that I want to quit because I still feel that whenever I'm in training I want to beat the guys."

De Bruyne is, after all, very familiar with the unforgiving transactional nature of sport. He was plucked by Chelsea from Genk only to get discarded by them two years later without ever really getting a chance. To City’s credit they saw past Chelsea’s failure, where he was labelled a £60million reject by the back pages of The Mirror when they bought him from Wolfsburg in 2015.

There’ll likely be several offers for De Bruyne this summer. Saudi Arabia will obviously be interested, as will teams in MLS. For some reason I suspect he’d prefer to stay closer to home, be it in the Premier League or one of the other top flight leagues.

And, even at 33 and with injuries creeping up more regularly, De Bruyne can still deliver moments of sublime quality and technique. He can still find those passes, dissect defences and make teammates around him better and opponents helplessly human.

All throughout his time as City’s talisman, we never learned too much about him beyond his phenomenal ability and will to win. He’s quiet, reserved and keeps to himself off the field. How he expressed himself in only how he played football was, in many ways, the perfect embodiment of both a player who had to deal with Pep Guardiola and represent a club like Manchester City. He just got on with it — really, absurdly well.

However when he speaks, it’s usually pointed and with purpose, most often when he’s surrounded by his perpetually underperforming national team.

That’s what makes his comments about his contract situation so eyebrow-raising. He’s a competitor and has more to offer. But he’s also at an age where he’s disposable, the first piece unplugged from a City squad that will need to transition from an old guard who up until this season have delivered for the club on an astonishingly consistent basis.

We like to pretend football is a family, but it’s a marketplace — and it’s something we’ll see players take more control of. De Bruyne gave City everything, and still ended up learning the same lesson he once learned at Chelsea: performance is temporary; sentiment is irrelevant.

Trent’s watching. Maybe he’s imagining his own final chapter, trying to ensure it doesn’t look like this one. Maybe he’s realizing that real power in football lies in knowing when to walk and not waiting to be told to.

Because in modern football, loyalty doesn’t come with a reward. It comes with a warning label.