Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne announcement: Pointless pettiness or show of strength?

There are two perspectives on the timing of Manchester City’s announcement of Kevin De Bruyne’s contract extension, dependent entirely on which half of Manchester you most sympathise with.

On the one hand, it was an act of pointless pettiness, proof of a ‘small club’ mentality, typical behaviour of noisy neighbours and the sort of embarrassing grandstanding not seen since former City chief executive Garry Cook accused AC Milan of “bottling it” for refusing to sanction Kaka’s mooted move to the Etihad.

That’s the perspective from the red half of Manchester, of course. On the other hand, when a club is 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League and playing some of the best football in its history, the hierarchy can afford to take a few liberties when upstaging their rivals’ most important announcement of the year.

READ MORE: World’s richest football clubs revealed

READ MORE: The inside story of Sanchez’s transfer

Massive as the signing of Alexis Sanchez is to Manchester United, Kevin De Bruyne committing his future to Manchester City is just as significant. While Sanchez will revitalise United’s attack and likely help them launch a more credible title challenge next season, De Bruyne has now ascended to the level of performance which makes a footballer a prime target for the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

READ MORE: How Sanchez compares to the rest of the Manchester United attack

While announcing the Belgian’s contract extension at the same time as Sanchez was unveiled at Old Trafford failed to head off the massive fanfare which greeted the Chilean, it did prove to be an amusing distraction and inspired plenty of wry smiles among neutrals. Considering that City came so close to getting Sanchez, it’s hard not to interpret the timing of De Bruyne’s extension as deliberate.

United fans exasperated

It’s certainly caused much saltiness among United supporters on social media, which suggests it worked exactly as intended. Rather than all the talk focusing on United stealing in at the last minute to sign Sanchez ahead of City and Chelsea in a coup for Jose Mourinho, fans are now talking about De Bruyne and Sanchez in the same sentence. City’s diversion tactics have worked and, in a self-perpetuating cycle, only get more effective the more exasperated United fans become.

READ MORE: Giggs – superstar Sanchez will lift United

Yes, the timing of the Kevin De Bruyne announcement was an act of supreme pettiness on the part of Manchester City. But aren’t acts of pettiness towards bitter rivals what football is all about? Rather than let this week be all about Sanchez, City have reframed the situation and worked De Bruyne into the conversation. It may exasperate United fans, but in the battle of the announcements City have won.