MY ACCOUNT
Manchester City are on the verge of retaining their Premier League crown — and Kevin De Bruyne has played a starring role yet again.
The Belgian maestro, 30, has been at his brilliant best over the past few months, whether pulling the strings in midfield or making an impact in the final third.
Ahead of the Citizens’ crucial clash with Aston Villa this afternoon, we focus on their masterful main man.
Doing it himself
In a scoring sense, this season has been a historic one for De Bruyne with his 19 goals in all competitions three more than he has ever managed in a single campaign before.
Fifteen of those have come in the Premier League, where only four players (Mohamed Salah, Heung-Min Son, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane) have outscored him.
Quite simply, De Bruyne has been on another level among midfielders when it comes to finding the net.
No other out-and-out midfield player in Europe’s top five leagues has more than 11 goals to their name this term.
Creative masterclass
De Bruyne has hit new heights in terms of putting the ball in the net, while also remaining City’s creator-in-chief.
Gabriel Jesus has provided a squad-high eight Premier League assists this season to De Bruyne’s seven.
But the latter’s 82 chances created is 25 more than any other City player this term.
Across the division as a whole, only Bruno Fernandes (89) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (84) have conjured more opportunities than De Bruyne — though the City star’s average of 3.49 per 90 minutes puts him well ahead of even those two elite creators.
Aesthetic appeal
As City thrashed Wolves 5-1 last week, De Bruyne became just the third midfielder to score four goals in a Premier League match — joining Frank Lampard and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Clearly, that was a remarkable feat. But it was the way in which he achieved it that really caught the eye, with the Ghent native reinforcing his status as one of the modern game’s most aesthetically pleasing footballers.
De Bruyne strikes the ball with as much grace as he passes it and it is a joy to behold.
Selfishness equals success
Speaking after that win at Wolves, Pep Guardiola praised De Bruyne for becoming more selfish.
He said: “I know [De Bruyne] is always a guy who is so generous and always has the sense to make an assist, but this season I think he has the sense to be prolific and score goals.
“He won the game against Chelsea [in January], he scored against [Real] Madrid and he has been decisive scoring goals, and at the end this makes the greatest [players].”
Did De Bruyne need to add this selfish streak in order to become one of the all-time greats? Perhaps not, but it has clearly been another useful string to his bow this term.
Looking ahead
The only doubt over De Bruyne is how long he can continue to perform at the absolute peak of his powers.
The 88-cap international has become more injury-prone in recent years and City’s tendency to go deep in the Champions League, on top of their domestic exertions, means he is playing plenty of minutes each season.
Nonetheless, De Bruyne never seems to lose his rhythm, despite those absences.
With his contract at the Etihad Stadium running until 2025, City supporters will be hoping to witness three more years of utter genius from their No17.
