Kevin De Bruyne warns if you don't fit Pep Guardiola's style you 'will have to go somewhere else'
De Bruyne was nominated for the Ballon d'Or on Monday
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin De Bruyne has warned that Manchester City players must adapt to Pep Guardiola’s methods and any who don’t ‘will have to go somewhere else’.
Joe Hart was sent out on loan and replaced by Claudio Bravo after Guardiola decided he needed a goalkeeper who was better with his feet, while Yaya Toure has been exiled to the reserves.
Sergio Aguero was dropped from the team to face Barcelona with Guardiola unhappy with his work rate, while there are doubts over Vincent Kompany’s future at the club.
Bravo has been heavily criticised for a number of high profile mistakes since joining City, notably in the Manchester derby and his red card against Barcelona, but De Bruyne insists he is trusted.
“There are always new challenges in football. You just need to adapt otherwise you won't fit in. And if you don't fit in then you will have to go somewhere else,” De Bruyne told the Daily Mail.
“It's very tough for Claudio because he is very different to Joe. Joe is also from here, which is also against Claudio.
“His style of play is also totally different. Everybody knows that the coach likes a goalkeeper who likes to play a lot.
“So when Claudio makes a mistake with his foot, they are going to say that he isn't better with his feet at all. If he misses one pass they will say, ‘Ah, look! Why did they buy him?’.
“He has made a few mistakes but it happens and we have full confidence in him. He is the right man for the job.”
After winning their first 10 games under Guardiola, City have stumbled and not tasted victory in their last five, with individual errors becoming an all-too-familiar trait.
But De Bruyne, who was named on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or on Monday, has called for patience to get things right as Guardiola conducted a 50-minute post-match dressing-room address following the 1-1 draw with Southampton on the weekend.
“He just told us to believe,” De Bruyne said. “He doesn't want us to have doubts in the way that we are playing.
“He wanted to make sure that we know the way we are playing now is the good way. That was the message. There are a lot of risks in how we play, we know that.
“I know this is not a very patient world but we are trying something very new. There will be ups and downs. Other teams will adapt to us but everything will be OK in the end. We know we have to learn everything perfectly for this to work.”
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