Man City informed of 'most obvious' replacements for Kevin De Bruyne as three candidates to succeed legendary Belgian midfielder emerge

De Bruyne's former Chelsea team-mate Florent Malouda has listed three players he believes would be ideal replacements for the legendary Belgian - stating Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White or Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz would be the 'obvious' answer, while he personally would target Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans. Wirtz is unlikely to end up in Manchester as he has instead reportedly agreed a deal with Bayern Munich.

De Bruyne has become one of the world's best at City, notching 108 goals and 177 assists in 418 games for the club. Pep Guardiola's side have won it all during his time there, with De Bruyne an irreplaceable part of six Premier League title wins and the club's first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023.

Malouda said in an exclusive interview with Racing Tipster: "(City's) scouts can find treasures in a host of countries, but on European soil, Gibbs-White and Wirtz are the most obvious choices to replace Kevin De Bruyne.

"Manchester City will really struggle to replace De Bruyne. I don’t think City had prepared well enough for him reaching the end of his time at the Etihad. The squad is overcrowded in some places but not ready to replace him.

"I think they should go for a player who already has Premier League experience. I would. I would go for the Belgian player, Youri Tielemans, who is at Aston Villa. I think in the midfield at Manchester City, they need the kind of player he is."

De Bruyne will have a queue of clubs lining up to sign him in the summer, with newly-crowned Premier League Champions Liverpool reported to be interested. He will look to end his time in Manchester in style, with an FA Cup final to look forward to and Champions League qualification a major target in the final weeks of the campaign.