Former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott can see Kevin de Bruyne leaving if their two season Champions League ban is upheld.
City have appealed against the UEFA ruling, which is to be heard by the Court of Arbritration in Sport.
Earlier in May, De Bruyne admitted that a two-year absence might be too much for the 28-year-old, and he didn't rule out looking to leave the Etihad in that scenario.
"It's hard to say if he'll stay, only he knows," Lescott told The Beautiful Game Podcast.
"But I totally understand what he's saying because that was my thought process when I was at Everton. Everton were good to me, I enjoyed it there, but then I thought in my prime years, optimal years of playing, how realistic is it for Everton to be challenging for the title as it is for Man City to be challenging for the title.
"That was the decision I made and the thought process behind leaving and obviously joining Man City and challenging for the titles. I'm sure that will be the decision behind Kevin de Bruyne. If he decides to leave, he'll think 'who's the most capable team of winning the Champions League whilst Man City are not in there?'
"Hopefully that doesn't happen. Hopefully neither of them things happen. Obviously they're going to try and fight their corner, they believe they were right in what they were doing. So hopefully there's some common ground and they can reach an agreement."