Kevin De Bruyne believes that unclear rules are making the implementation of VAR more difficult in the Premier League.
Manchester City are into their fourth season of matches involving Video Assistant Referees being able to check decisions, with the marginal offside that ruled out Raheem Sterling's last-minute winner in their Champions League quarter-final with Spurs in 2019 an early sign of the drama that the technology could both add and take away from the game.
Players quickly expressed their concerns at not being able to celebrate goals until every angle had been checked for infringements, while ongoing frustrations with VAR include that match-going fans are too often not kept in the loop about decisions and that there is a lack of consistency in how officials use the technology.
“Obviously, sometimes it's not nice because you score a goal and then you have to wait for a VAR check and all that stuff, but on the other hand, when the decisions are right, they are right," he told City's official magazine. "There is always a lot of debate, but I don't think the problem is VAR, it's the rules that sometimes make the difficulties for the referees.
“If the rules are clear, that makes it easier for everybody, but the fact there is still a lot of debate about VAR means the rules are not clear or they seem to be changed all the time - but that's just my opinion.”
