Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City: Wolfsburg braced for improved offer after 'rejecting £43m bid'

City have already signed Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph but look ready to move for the former Chelsea midfielder

Manchester City are ready to to make an improved offer for Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne in a bid to strengthen their midfield even further.

Having already made the £49m acquisition of Raheem Sterling and £8m addition of Fabian Delph, City are believed to have made an opening offer of around £43m for the 23-year-old.

Wolfsburg do not want to sell the influential midfielder, who is rebuilding his reputation after a difficult spell with Chelsea, and at just 24 years old he emerged as the Player of the Year during the 2014/15 Bundesliga season courtesy of his 10 league goals and incredible 20 assists in the German top flight.

The club’s sporting director Klaus Allofs refused to confirm whether an official bid had been received, and despite making it clear that they do not wish to let De Bruyne return to the Premier League just one season after leaving Stamford Bridge, he admitted that things could change very quickly should an improved offer come in for the Belgium international.

"We do not want to sell him, but it is possible that there will be an offer in the next days," Allofs said.

"But all the same, we want to keep him in our squad. We want to build a strong team and Kevin is supposed to be a big part of it.

"Anything can happen in football. We are a club which has multiple preconditions in line to convince him to stay."

De Bruyne is a transfer target for Manchester City (Getty Images)

De Bruyne started Wolfsburg season-opening victory over Eintracht Frankfurt and was replaced by Aaron Hunt in the 75th minute, with the 2-1 scoreline maintained until the final whistle.