Man City identify Kevin De Bruyne's replacement as Premier League giants target summer bid for Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz

Pep Guardiola is desperate to continue rebuilding his squad after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, The Daily Mail reports, and sees Germany star Wirtz as a major player in the club's future. Leverkusen value their talisman at more than £85 million ($107m). De Bruyne is out of contract in the summer of 2025 and no renewal has been agreed, potentially leaving a vacancy for a younger replacement.

De Bruyne turns 34 in June and is seeing his minutes managed more and more by Guardiola, who has also been fielding Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva, all of whom are 30 or older, in midfield. City signed Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov in January as they attempt to bring down the average age of their squad and the signing of Wirtz would be an enormous statement.

Wirtz has been a major part of the Bayer Leverkusen side that has been one of the best in Europe over the last 18 months. The German scored 18 goals and registered 20 assists as Leverkusen won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal and reached the Europa League final last term, and has notched another 26 goal involvements this season as they battle for the Bundesliga and Champions League.

Wirtz also starred for hosts Germany at Euro 2024 last summer, and a move to one of the richest clubs in the world is an inevitability at some stage. Bayern Munich are also said to be interested, with the Bavarians hoping to team him up with international team-mate Jamal Musiala. City are bound to face competition from elsewhere for his signature, too.