Wolfsburg director Klaus Allofs has claimed that the Bundesliga side had little chance of keeping hold of star player Kevin de Bruyne this summer, as Manchester City offered to quadruple his then-salary.

The Belgium international joined the Citizens in a club-record deal worth in the region of £54m last month.

Allofs admitted that Wolfsburg were keen to keep De Bruyne in place, but they were simply unable to compete with the financial gulf between themselves and City.

"We spent a long time weighing up all our options and trying to keep Kevin at Wolfsburg," he told German publication Die Welt. "But at some point, we reached the conclusion that it would be best to allow him to move.

"When a player has an offer from another team where he can make four times as much money, you have to take into account what such an offer does to a player."

De Bruyne has made an impressive start to life at the Etihad Stadium by scoring in all three of his starts.