Manchester City have handed Enzo Fernandez the shirt number previously worn by Kevin De Bruyne, and the decision has reignited a long-running debate about the club's sense of identity and respect for its own legends.

A number that meant something

De Bruyne's No. 17 was not just any squad number. The Belgian was the defining figure of Manchester City's most successful era — a period that delivered six Premier League titles, two PFA Players' Player of the Year awards, and four Playmaker Awards. For a club still in the process of building genuine historical weight, De Bruyne stands as one of its first true icons.

The argument is not that the number must be retired forever. It is that handing it away so swiftly — within two years of De Bruyne's departure, and without any symbolic buffer period — sends a signal that the club does not hold its own legends in the highest regard.

Why the recipient matters

That the number has gone to Enzo Fernandez makes the decision harder to defend. The Argentine midfielder arrives with considerable baggage: he was disciplined after singing homophobic and racist chants with his national team, was removed from Chelsea's squad before an FA Cup quarter-final, and was sent off in a World Cup final after a confrontation with Pau Cubarsi. He was also publicly linked with a move to Real Madrid while still under contract at Chelsea.

Critics argue this is not the profile of a player who has earned the right to wear a number synonymous with one of English football's great modern midfielders.

The wider question of culture

The episode feeds into a broader perception that has followed Manchester City throughout their rise: that success at the Etihad Stadium is built on financial power rather than a culture that players would be drawn to for its own sake. Opposition fans across the Premier League have long described the club as lacking soul, and decisions like this one — however symbolic — do little to counter that narrative.

Unlike Manchester United's long association with the No. 7 or Liverpool's tradition with the No. 8, City's history is shorter. That makes it even more important, some argue, that the club takes deliberate steps to honour the players who helped write it. De Bruyne is the clearest candidate for that kind of institutional respect.

Whether a statue or another formal tribute is in the works behind the scenes remains unknown. What is clear is that giving away his number to the first player who requested it has not gone down well — and Manchester City may find that perception is harder to shift than a shirt number.