Kevin De Bruyne's assists record: Season by season
When it comes to setting up others, the brilliant Belgian is in a class of his own.
“I always like to assist more than scoring. It gives me another feeling.”
Those were the words of Kevin De Bruyne in 2017.
“When you score it's a great feeling but to give a great pass means it's something special for me. It's very under-rated what we do,” he continued.
“Sometimes you just square the ball and somebody else shoots, but some assists are so nice and the passing is very important.
“We creators have a thing with the attackers. If they don't score you think: ‘Uh! I did such a great job and you're messing it up’. If we give a bad pass they're going to say: ‘What are you doing?’”
In the time that has elapsed since, De Bruyne has been far and away the Premier League’s most creative player.
He is now the quickest to ever reach 100 assists in the history of the Premier League, doing so in 237 games. That’s 56 quicker than previous record holder Cesc Fabregas, who took 293 games to achieve three figures.
After being named Bundesliga Player of the Year in the season prior, he arrived in Manchester in 2015 and enjoyed a strong first campaign in Manuel Pellegrini’s last year in charge.
With the arrival of Pep Guardiola came an explosion in terms of creative output from the Belgian.
Here we’ll run through his campaigns to date…
2015/16 – Nine assists – 8th in the Premier League
As with the rest of the side, De Bruyne blew hot and cold in 2015/16. All nine of his Premier League assists came at home, with two in each of the heavy defeats of Newcastle United, Southampton and Sunderland.
He suffered a knee injury that saw him miss the entirety of February and March and he spent the last few weeks of the season looking to regain his form. His key impact of this campaign came in the Champions League, where his quarter-final strike saw City past PSG and into the final four.
Outstanding assist of the season: An unstoppable left-footed cross for Sergio Aguero at home against Newcastle United
2016/17 – 18 assists – 1st in the Premier League
Pep Guardiola was the new manager at City and although the Blues weren’t yet playing exactly how the Catalan would have hoped, De Bruyne was destructive.
His 18 assists was more than anyone else in the league, with Spurs’ Christian Eriksen next on 15.
His productivity peaked in the final weeks of the league season with five in the last four games as Guardiola’s side appeared to click into gear.
Outstanding assist of the season: A raking cross-field pass for Raheem Sterling at home against Arsenal
2017/18 – 16 assists – 1st in the Premier League
The promise shown in the final few weeks of the previous campaign came to fruition as City set a Premier League points record, ending the season as its first ever Centurions.
De Bruyne got his year under way in terms of assists with two in the 5-0 demolition of Liverpool; the first a penetrative through ball for Sergio Aguero and the second a wicked cross on to the head of Gabriel Jesus.
He had another two assists in one match a few weeks later when the Blues demolished Stoke City, the second of which is one of the greatest passes the Etihad Stadium has ever seen.
Curling the ball around the backtracking defence from more than 40 yards out, De Bruyne weighted it so perfectly that Leroy Sane did not have to break stride before finishing with ease.
A hat-trick of assists came later in the campaign as the Blues scored five against Leicester City – to this day that remains the most assists he has recorded in one match.
Outstanding assist of the season: A curling weighted ball for Leroy Sane in a 7-2 home win over Stoke City
2018/19 – Two assists
Owing to a lengthy ligament injury, De Bruyne only made 19 Premier League appearances as City successfully defended our crown.
Many of those came from the bench as the Belgian searched for fitness and form in a side that could not afford to slip up as we held off a relentless Liverpool side.
He did still make the telling contribution in one crucial win in particular, laying goals on a plate for Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus in a 3-1 defeat of Crystal Palace in April.
Outstanding assist of the season: A halfway line pass through the defence for Raheem Sterling at Crystal Palace
2019/20 – 20 assists – 1st in the Premier League
With 35 Premier League appearances in 2019/20, De Bruyne was back to his best even as City fell short of a third consecutive title.
It was his best ever season in terms of assists and he was seven ahead of second placed Trent Alexander-Arnold. His total matched the record set by Thierry Henry in 2002/03.
He registered eight in the first seven including two braces as the Blues appeared to start the season in fine form.
De Bruyne’s output declined as winter set in and with it, City started to stumble as Liverpool built a healthy advantage. An upturn in the early months of 2020 including 2-0 wins against Sheffield United and West Ham in which he scored and assisted was halted by COVID-19.
Once football returned, the title was beyond us but De Bruyne continued to set the standard for midfielders throughout the league finishing the season with four assists in his last six appearances as he stepped up to captain the side more regularly.
Outstanding assist of the season: A run and left-footed cross for Raheem Sterling at Arsenal
2020/21 – 12 assists – 3rd in the Premier League
While a series of niggles may have led to a drop off in the Belgian’s supply, he still managed the third most assists in the league despite playing just 25 times.
During his longest run in the side, he achieved nine assists in just 12 matches. Most notable of those were decisive contributions in 1-0 wins over Sheffield United, Southampton and Brighton when that spark was required to get us over the line.
A key game in that title hunt was the 3-1 win at Chelsea in which De Bruyne passed for Phil Foden to sweep home and then added a degree of comfort by scoring the third.
A hamstring injury saw him miss five games in January and February before he was again not fully fit for seven of the final nine matches.
In the end, Pep Guardiola’s side regained the Premier League title and were able to lift it in front of a select number of fans after playing behind closed doors for the entirety of the season.
Outstanding assist of the season: Outside of the boot, or trivela, cross for John Stones at home against Crystal Palace
2021/22 – Eight assists – 10th in the Premier League
"He is not just a player to make assists – now he scores a lot of goals,” said Pep Guardiola in April after De Bruyne’s output had changed dramatically in 2021/22.
“I've said to him many times, 'I know you enjoy making a lot of assists, for you and your team-mates, but you have to score goals to reach another stage'. Now he is doing that, a lot of goals and chances."
The Belgian led City’s title charge, but this year it was largely by converting chances himself. He hit 15 goals, which made him our leading scorer in the league and the sixth best across the country.
Creatively, his season sparked into life in the final few weeks with five assists in his last six games. That’s not to mention the Wolves match in which he scored four times.
The crucial assist, a moment written into Manchester City folklore for all of history, was that for Ilkay Gundogan to complete the final day turnaround against Aston Villa.
Just moments earlier we had been destined to see the title head to Liverpool, until we scored three goals in five second half minutes. The third of those came as De Bruyne drove at the defence and fired a ball across goal that Gundogan simply had to tap home.
The Etihad erupted and the final whistle saw an emotional response from the entire squad, not least De Bruyne.
Outstanding assist of the season: A pass to find Ilkay Gundogan at home against Aston Villa to win the league
2022/23 – 14 assists – 1st in the Premier League
With plenty of matches still to come in the 2022/23 campaign, De Bruyne looks set to challenge his current record of 20.
The Belgian appears to have returned to a more creative role after last season’s goalscoring exploits, largely through his close relationship with striker Erling Haaland.
The midfielder supplied Haaland in the very first game of the season, helping the Norwegian to an opening day brace.
He supplied three assists in his first three matches and then had an incredible run of six in four matches, including two in the 6-3 demolition of Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium.
Outstanding assist of the season so far: Through ball for Erling Haaland to start a close relationship between the pair
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