It’s been a magnificent year for our brilliant Belgian.
Kevin De Bruyne has established himself as one of the world’s greatest players over the past five or six years, but 2022/23 could be argued as his best yet.
An inspirational footballer, a creative genius and a leader on the pitch in so many ways, KDB’s stats during our quest for the Treble begs the question: Is there a better player in world football at this moment?
Including 11 international matches for Belgium, Kevin has racked up 60 appearances in the last calendar year with almost no extended rest period.
His 49 games for City saw him push his body to the limit, occasionally to his own cost as he continued to help his team achieve footballing immortality, as witnessed in a second successive heart-breaking Champions League final exit with injury.
If one player deserves to shine during the biggest club match in world football, it is surely our humble, quiet yet inspiring No.17.
As City adjusted to the arrival of Erling Haaland, it was De Bruyne who quickly tuned into the Norwegian’s wavelength and by the end of their first season, they had forged one of the most lethal understandings in the modern game.
When De Bruyne picks up the ball, Haaland will invariably start his run or find a pocket of space, knowing that the ball will arrive at the perfect pace, height, or angle.
It is a devastating partnership that blossomed during our greatest ever season.
And one glance at his season stats confirms what every City fan already knows – KDB is one of our greatest players of all time and at his peak, he is a joy to watch and almost unstoppable.
He registered an astonishing 28 assists in all competitions in 2022-23, eight more than any other player from Europe’s top five leagues – and the nearest being Lionel Messi with 20 speaks volumes of his phenomenal productivity.
It is the fourth time he has topped 20-plus assists as a City player having achieved the feat in 2016-17 (20), 2017-18 (21) and 2019-20 (22) and during that time, only two other Premier League players have done so (Christian Eriksen in 2016-17 with 23, and Mesut Özil in 2015-16 with 20.
Kevin created an average of 3.4 chances per 90 minutes in all competitions in 2022-23, the best rate of any Premier League player with a minimum 1000 minutes played – so that pans out at one goal-scoring chance made every 25 minutes of every game he played last season.
Astonishing.
He also assisted 16 goals in the Premier League in 2022-23, the division’s best and only Cesc Fabregas has managed more than the four occasions KDB has assisted 15 or more goals in single Premier League campaign.
And the records and milestones continue to fall as his stellar career progresses.
His delightful chip for Haaland’s headed goal against Southampton in April was his 100th Premier League assist in only his 237th appearance for City, achieving the landmark 56 games faster than the next best, Cesc Fabregas, who took 293 games.
But the accolades don’t end there.
KDB’s eight assists for Erling Haaland in the Premier League in 2022-23, is the most one City player has assisted another in a single season in the competition and his six Champions League assists last season was also the most in the competition for 2022-23 - and he tied with Wrexham’s Sam Dalby as joint-top assist king in the FA Cup with four – two of which came in the final!
Most of De Bruyne’s 10 goals were superb strikes, too – and many were in crucial matches.
His sublime free-kick away to Leicester secured a 1-0 victory, while his magnificent goal against Arsenal at the Emirates put the Blues on the way to a 3-1 win, and he was on target again in the 4-1 win over Liverpool.
Perhaps his best performance of the season was in the Etihad return against Arsenal, where, in a must-win game, he took the contest by the scruff of the neck from minute one and his early goal on seven minutes was followed by an assist for John Stones.
A second strike early in the second period as City swept the Premier League leaders aside 4-1 making it two huge performances against our title rivals that yielded three goals and two assists.
And, of course, when the Blues needed a goal at the Bernabeu, it was the Belgian maestro who delivered with a bullet of a low drive that fizzed past international team-mate Thibaut Courtois to ensure City began the return leg on level terms.
Big game players step up to the plat when they are needed, and Kevin does it time and time again.
It’s easy to run out of superlatives for this magnificent footballer who has just had the season of his life and - worryingly for our opponents - he just seems to get better year on year.
An incredible campaign and a wonderful contribution.
