Man City and Kevin De Bruyne have sent Manchester United a transfer message they cannot ignore

Manchester United have committed an extensive catalogue of transfer mistakes over the past decade, but they can take some comfort from knowing they weren't responsible for the worst transfer decision in the Premier League during that time.

Angel Di Maria, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba are just a few examples, that's without mentioning Alexis Sanchez and his cringe-inducing unveiling playing the piano, but those mistakes weren't as grievous as Chelsea giving Kevin De Bruyne just eight games at the club before selling him to Wolfsburg for £18m. De Bruyne has since made a mockery of Chelsea's miscalculated assessment.

Chelsea deemed De Bruyne not good enough and yet he's been among the world's top three midfielders for most (if not all) of the seven years he's spent at Manchester City. United are all too familiar with De Bruyne's quality. He's an architect under Pep Guardiola.

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“I decided to go away because I felt I didn’t have any chances of playing at the time," De Bruyne explained last year. “I didn’t see more opportunities coming so for me, it was the best decision to leave Chelsea and go to a situation where I felt I could start again.

“Did I expect it to go this way? Obviously not because at that time it was a low point in my career, but I never had any doubt in my abilities as a football player. I can't think what is going to happen eight years down the line. It’s wonderful.”

De Bruyne's career looked to have taken a backwards step when Chelsea made the decision to sell him, but his move to the Bundesliga was actually the making of him. There's a lesson in that for United and their recruitment this summer.

The perception