Kevin De Bruyne claims Manchester City have their sights set on all four trophies this season.
The Belgian playmaker insists targeting silverware is City’s prime motivation – not making up for last season’s frustrations.
City’s 2019-20 campaign ended disappointingly as they crashed out of the Champions League to Lyon at the quarter-final stage after finishing a distant second to Liverpool in the Premier League. They were also beaten in the FA Cup semi-finals by Arsenal.
City’s 2019-20 campaign ended in disappointing fashion (Matthew Childs/NMC Pool/PA)
De Bruyne insists that has now been put aside with fresh goals set for the new season.
“I think the motivation doesn’t change if you win or you lose,” said De Bruyne, who was typically influential in City’s impressive season-opening 3-1 win at Wolves on Monday.
“When you start a new season there are new aspirations, you want to win the most as possible and we want to win everything.
“For us, all four (trophies) is in the mind, that’s the mentality. It is obviously very hard but we went into Monday knowing that it was going to be a very hard game.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
“We didn’t train a lot but I think the performance was really good and that’s good for us.”
De Bruyne (left) scored a penalty as City won 3-1 at Wolves (Stu Forster/PA)
City are back in action as they host Bournemouth – who were relegated from the top flight last season – in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Thursday. That is followed by the visit of Leicester in the league on Sunday.
De Bruyne said: “We knew when we saw the schedule, when we started, that it is tough, but we always go.
“We play game by game and the best team that is ready to play on Thursday will try and win the game.”
De Bruyne felt summer signing Nathan Ake acquitted himself well on his City debut at Molineux.
Nathan Ake made his City debut at Wolves (Stu Forster/PA)
“I think he is doing really well,” De Bruyne, 29, said. “It is really hard for a player to come in and not really have a pre-season and settle in with the guys, because there is a lot of stuff you need to do.
“But he played a brilliant game, together with John (Stones), and I think it is really important for them to start really well, and you see that when they have a lot of confidence, they can be very important players.”
City have a new captain this season following the departure of veteran David Silva.
Fernandinho was handed the armband after a dressing-room vote.
