Attacking Midfielder of the Season: Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne

We need to talk about Kevin’s form – thesportsquotient.com

When Kevin De Bruyne first turned up in England, he was a very different player to the one he is now. Whilst having great creativity and dribbling ability, he was criticized for a lack of tactical intelligence and defensive qualities.

Those things would take time to develop, time that then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho did not have. De Bruyne benefited from regular first team football at Wolfsburg, where he took the Bundesliga by storm and rocked the division’s individual charts for goals and assists.

His form in Lower Saxony earned him a big money move to Manchester City, where his game has evolved even further. Under Pep Guardiola, the Belgian has made more tackles per game (1.3) than dribbles (1.1 – WhoScored). Improved positional discipline has encouraged his Catalan boss to play him in central midfield, where much of City’s play can go through him.

He is the division’s joint-second highest ranked player when it comes to assists (10) and key passes (2.8 per game). While aspects of his game have changed for the better, De Bruyne’s quality in the final third has been the one constant throughout his glamorous career.