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Man City snap up De Bruyne for €80 million

Manchester City have signed one of the stars of last season's Bundesliga campaign. But he didn't come cheap.

Man City snap up De Bruyne for €80 million
Kevin De Bruyne. Photo: DPA

Kevin De Bruyne has moved to Manchester City from VfL Wolfsburg for an estimated €80 million, once again demonstrating the financial muscle of the English Premier League, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The 24-year-old De Bruyme was widely recognized as the star of Wolfsburg's young team last season, which surprised many pundits by finishing second to Bayern Munich last season. Some had even been tipping them for the title this year.

The young attacking midfielder set up 21 goals for teammates last season and is seen as a highly technically gifted player.

But some German commentators have expressed concern about the benefit of the move for his career, pointing out that an earlier spell at Chelsea ended in failure.

Focus magazine's Marcus Plein wrote that the shy De Bruyne could struggle to assert himself in a team full of highly paid superstars such as those at Manchester City.

This is not the first time that an English club has swooped in and paid big money for a top Bundesliga talent this summer.

In June, Liverpool FC paid €41 million for Hoffenheim's Brazilian forward Firminio, a transfer that unleashed a wave of soul searching among German commentators as to how Bundesliga clubs could compete with the huge money being thrown around by English clubs.

Then in July, world champion and German national team champion Bastien Schweinsteiger shocked fans of his boyhood club Bayern Munich by deciding to join former English champions Manchester United.

This latest transfer – and particularly the money involved – has again made eyeballs water. Plein called it a “fatal signal for the Bundesliga” and speculated that Wolfsburg may have found it impossible to refuse the money and ended up pushing De Bruyne towards the exit gate.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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