"Sent him ahead"

Ex-City kicker: Pep torpedoed Bayern transfer

When Pep Guardiola was still coach at Bayern Munich, he allegedly prevented Kevin De Bruyne from moving to the record champions. This is what former Manchester City captain Fernandinho claims. Explosive: The Belgian eventually moved to City - Guardiola followed him a year later. 

"Guardiola was at Bayern, De Bruyne at Wolfsburg. Bayern's scouting department said 'We'll take a close look at the boy. What do you think if we get him? And Pep said 'No, no. I don't want him. I don't think he'll fit into our team'. That put the matter to bed," Fernandinho said in a podcast. 

This happened in 2014, but what happened afterwards is interesting. The Belgian decided to move to Manchester the following year. Guardiola also announced that he would not be renewing his contract in Munich and would instead move to City. De Bruyne and Guardiola were finally reunited in the Premier League in 2016.

Reschke disagrees
Fernandinho sees this as a clear calculation on the part of his former coach: "Do you understand? Pep knew he was going to City and sent De Bruyne ahead." The Brazilian does not provide any evidence for this claim, but he has a very good relationship with his former coach.

Michael Reschke, Munich's technical director at the time, contradicted the former City captain in an interview with Sport Bild: "That's complete nonsense. It is true that we looked into the transfer of Kevin de Bruyne. In the end, it wasn't feasible for economic reasons. Pep Guardiola was not involved in this decision at all." Fernandinho, on the other hand, does not believe this version and has already formed his own opinion.