Maestro. Miraculous. Magician. These are just three of the many words that could be used to describe Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Ever since the thirty-one year-old first stepped on the pitch as a professional, he has displayed his world class playmaking and overall football abilities.
De Bruyne made his professional debut with the Belgian club Genk back in 2009, and has played fifteen seasons in three different countries for five different clubs. Following three seasons in Belgium, De Bruyne found himself in England after being sold to Chelsea for $8.5 million. Chelsea then loaned him out to German club Werder Bremen for the 2012-2013 campaign.
After returning from Germany, he then featured in six total matches for Chelsea before being sold for $23.5 million to German club Wolfsburg. The Belgian spent around two seasons with Wolfsburg before he was sold back to England, as he joined Manchester City for an $81 million transfer fee.
Across his hundreds of appearances for club and country, De Bruyne has consistently shown his ability to have a positive impact and lead his team to success on the pitch. Below I am going to highlight some of the major reasons why I believe Kevin De Bruyne is the best footballer in the world.
Kevin De Bruyne
On-Field Production
Across his professional career, De Bruyne has appeared in 631 matches and has recorded 388 goal contributions for an average of 0.615 goal contributions per appearance. His 388 goal contributions consisted of 150 goals and 238 assists. What is most impressive of these statistics is that he has been able to average 0.377 assists per game across his professional career, which puts him among the top five in football history in that category.
In his fifteen club seasons De Bruyne has finished with at least ten assists in eight times, achieving the feat twice with Genk, once with Wolfsburg, and five times with Manchester City.
De Bruyne has written himself in the record books with his assists. He holds the joint Premier League single season assist record, alongside Thierry Henry, with twenty assists and became only the 2nd player ever in Bundesliga history with twenty assists in a season after his 2014-2015 campaign with Wolfsburg.
In addition to his playmaking, De Bruyne has also shown his goal scoring abilities. He has finished with at least ten goals in four seasons and holds a career average of 0.238 goals per appearance. De Bruyne has displayed his impressive abilities through his goal contributions and has rewritten the record books in the process.
Impact on Club Success
In addition to De Bruyne’s impressive goal contribution statistics, his on-field contribution has led to overall success for his clubs. Across his professional career, the Belgian international has won eleven domestic cups and five league championships.
What is most impressive from his career trophy cabinets, is that his former clubs have struggled to win trophies since his departure, and his current club, Manchester City, have enjoyed their most successful stint since he joined the club in 2015.
De Bruyne won one Belgian League trophy and one Belgian Cup trophy during his three years with the club. In the ten seasons since his departure, Genk have only been able to win three trophies. Similarly, De Bruyne won two German Cup trophies during his two seasons at Wolfsburg. The German club only has four total trophies and have been unable to win one since De Bruyne’s departure.
The Belgian’s most important trophy stint has occurred at his seven years Manchester City, as he’s won a total of twelve trophies. This accounts for over 40% of the 143 year-old club’s trophy cabinet. His most impressive stats at his present club is that he’s won the Premier League in four of his seven total seasons and the Carabao Cup in five of his seven seasons.
Individual Accolades
De Bruyne has built quite the trophy cabinet through his club accomplishments, but he’s built quite the individual resume as well. De Bruyne has been the leading assists provider in the Bundesliga once and the Premier League three times. De Bruyne now sits 10th in the all time assist leaders and 6th among active players, with each footballer above him having at least 160 more appearances.
In addition to his impressive individual assists, De Bruyne has also won a number of individual awards. These include two Premier League player of the year awards, one Bundesliga player of the year awards, and two Manchester City player of the year awards. He’s also been named to the UEFA Team of the year twice.
Since his entry to the world stage, De Bruyne has proven himself as one of the best footballers in the world. Seemingly in the prime of his career, it will be exciting to see what De Bruyne will be able to accomplish by the time he retires.
