How Man City could line up with Kevin De Bruyne

City finished last season trophyless and many expected Manuel Pellegrini to not survive the summer.

The Chilean was however retained, signed a new contract and has been significantly backed in the transfer market.

City have already signed Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi, Fabian Delph, Patrick Roberts and Enes Unal.

Some of City’s South American stars were given an extended break following their Copa America exploits. This means that come the first Premier League game of the season against West Brom, Pablo Zabaleta and Sergio Aguero were absent from the starting XI. Those two aside, it was pretty much the team that finished last season bar the inclusion of Sterling on the left.

Aguero made an appearance from then bench in the first game and has since retained his place. Rather surprisingly Jesus Navas, who started 23 of City’s Premier League matches last season, has played from the start in all four.

De Bruyne has tended to operate from either the left or just behind the front man in Dieter Hecking’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

Logically, it would therefore make sense just to transpose De Bruyne into one of those positions for City. However, that causes a slight selection headache for Pellegrini as currently occupying those positions are David Silva and Sterling. Of the three in Pellegrini’s 4-2-3-1, they would fall under the undroppable category. Therefore the Chilean will most likely have to do some reshuffling.

This will more than likely be quite fluid. However, if City are to break their transfer record for a player then it is likely they will play him in his preferred position. Therefore, De Bruyne will most likely start at number 10 with Silva shifting across and Navas dropping to the bench.