Monday 31 August 2015 07:29, UK
Manchester City have completed the signing of Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg.
The 24-year-old arrived in Manchester on Saturday and underwent a medical before putting pen to paper on a six-year deal to join City for a fee of £54.5m, which is the second highest transfer fee ever paid by a British club.
The midfielder, who will wear the No 17 shirt, told the club's website: "I want to reach the highest level possible as a player and I think the most important thing is that at the end of the season we can be happy and maybe have some titles.
"I think this is the most important for the club, the players and for the fans of course."
He becomes manager Manuel Pellegrini's eighth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph, Nicolas Otamendi, Patrick Roberts, Enes Unal, David Faupala and Aleix Garcia.
The most important thing is that at the end of the season we can be happy and maybe have some titles.
Pellegrini added: "We are very happy to have added Kevin to our team and I have no doubt that he will be a big success on his return to the Premier League.
"It takes a special footballer to improve our squad and I have no doubt that Kevin is certainly one of those – he has all of the mental, physical, tactical and technical attributes required to fit straight in.
"We like to play attractive, attacking football and bringing in a player like De Bruyne will only aid us as we fight on four fronts."
It takes a special footballer to improve our squad and I have no doubt that Kevin is certainly one of those.
De Bruyne began his career at Genk in his home country before completing a £6.7m move to Chelsea in January 2012.
However, he endured an unsuccessful first spell in England, making just three appearances in the Premier League for Chelsea following a loan spell back at his former club.
De Bruyne spent the 2012-13 season on loan at Werder Bremen and took the Bundesliga by storm last season after making an £18m move from Chelsea to Wolfsburg in January 2014.
He scored 20 goals during his 18-month spell at the Volkswagen Arena.
Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs acknowledged on Thursday that they could not compete with City's "astonishing" salary offer to De Bruyne.
After the deal was completed on Sunday, Allofs said: "We would have loved to carry on working with Kevin, but we decided to accommodate his wishes of moving to Manchester City now.
"He behaved in an absolutely professional manner during 18 months with Wolfsburg and he always gave everything.
"His transfer is regrettable because he was a key member of our team, but we are still well equipped to be able to continue along the successful path we have been on in recent months. We wish Kevin a lot of success with Manchester City."
