De Bruyne to start at Cologne – Hecking

Wolfsburg’s hierarchy reiterated their insistence Kevin De Bruyne will be available for their Bundesliga clash at Cologne on Saturday.

Both coach Dieter Hecking and sporting director Klaus Allofs said the Belgium international will be available for their league clash, but were remiss to confirm anything else – with Manchester City lurking for his services.

“For us there is no question. Of course he will be part of the squad on Saturday,” Allofs said.

“It seems that everyone in this case is losing the plot a bit. But we want to keep a cool head.

“We are trying to find the best solution for everyone.

“My answer: He will be in the squad.”

Allofs also slammed De Bruyne’s treatment at the Sport Bild Awards, when the in-demand player repeated host Alexander Bommes’ statement: “This season I will definitely be playing for Wolfsburg.

“The way was not correct for us because we had conditions not to talk about this topic.

“And this funny way was not good from my point of view. 

“Getting Kevin to repeat the sentence – that was not good. That is what we announced. You saw what consequences followed after this situation. 

“Someone discussed our reaction and said that it shows that Kevin will leave us. That was wrong, it was not our intention. 

“We wanted to show that we will not be forced to make promises. It is not appropriate. But this has no meaning in regards to a transfer. There is no final decision. 

“This was not a good way of dealing with it and it showed us in a bad light.”

Hecking flagged the 24-year-old will even start at the Rhein Energie Stadion, despite also being quoted as saying De Bruyne was “a bit tired” by the constant speculation of his future.

“I can just tell you what I see every day. There are certainly players who would handle it worse,” the 50-year-old coach said.  

“But I have the feeling that Kevin handles it very well. 

“He is trying to prepare as well as possible for the game against Cologne and be of service to the team. 

“This is certainly also part of his professionalism.

“With everything that has been said, if Kevin is with us in Cologne on Saturday, and I’m convinced of that, he will play from the beginning.”