Kevin De Bruyne says Manchester City are building for the future with signings
Saturday 26 August 2017 11:31, UK
Kevin De Bruyne says Manchester City are "building for the future" with their summer recruitment - and the new signings have provided much-needed qualities that were missing last season.
City are the biggest spenders in the Premier League this summer, bringing in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Danilo and Ederson for over £200m.
Walker is the oldest of the new additions at 27 while Mendy, Silva and Ederson are all under the age of 24.
De Bruyne joined City as a 24-year-old in 2015, and told Sky Sports why he is excited by the new batch of arrivals.
"They have added power and pace especially, which is maybe something we lacked a bit," said the Belgium international ahead of City's trip to Bournemouth on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
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"They are very strong, very quick and also very direct; that's a bit different to last year. They can get up and down for 90 minutes so that will help us.
"The team is much younger than it was when I arrived two years ago. I was one of the younger guys, now I am one of the oldest, so that's strange.
"City are building for the future and want to create a team for the next five or six years and not buy six players every window. It takes time and you cannot spend all the money in one window."
City have taken four points from their first two games of the 2017/18 Premier League season, with a 2-0 win at Brighton followed by a 1-1 draw against Everton.
While City showed resilience to battle back against the Toffees after conceding and having Walker sent off, De Bruyne feels they could have been more clinical.
"If we score our chances in the first half against Everton the game is done," he said. "If we get the chances we need to be more clinical so we can get the advantage and then teams can come on to us a bit more. That will give us a bit more of an advantage.
"We know 90 per cent of teams will park the bus against us, so it's very difficult to find openings, but we always find enough to win the game. On Monday we didn't convert them but I am very positive we will this season. Everybody is taking a next step to win every game possible. We had that in pre-season and in the two league games."
City have won all four of their previous Premier League meetings against Bournemouth with a combined scoreline of 15-1.
De Bruyne scored in a 4-0 win over the Cherries last season, and said: "I know the last few years we have won against them but it's a new season and new game so obviously they will try to change that.
"Bournemouth like to play football as well, they are very well coached and like to play out from the back. They play very positive and they have done very well since they have come into the Premier League."
Watch the full interview with Kevin De Bruyne on Premier League Live on Saturday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Premier League.
