There is nothing unusual about Kevin De Bruyne having the most assists out of all the players in the Premier League during a season… except for the fact he missed almost the whole first half of this one with a hamstring injury.
After going off 21 minutes into Manchester City’s season opener against Burnley on August 11, De Bruyne did not feature in the top flight again until January 13, when he came off the bench away to Newcastle. And had a goal and an assist in his 21 minutes on the pitch — having also assisted against Huddersfield in the FA Cup in his comeback appearance, also as a substitute, the previous weekend.
Two more assists against Nottingham Forest on Sunday means it’s 15 now for him across all competitions, five fewer than his Premier League-only record set four years ago, with five games of City’s season to go.
There has been a lot of talk about De Bruyne moving on to play in Saudi Arabia this summer after nine years in Manchester, and not without some foundation. The Saudi Pro League’s sporting director, Michael Emenalo, is spearheading the attempt to prise him out of City and the word is that the Belgian, who turns 33 in June, has not closed the door on the idea.
With fellow midfielder Bernardo Silva also a possible outgoing this summer — admittedly, in his case it’s for the fourth year running — there is a feeling that the winds of change could soon blow through the Etihad Stadium.
Premier League: Title run-in
| Position | Team | Games | Points | Goal diff. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
35 |
80 |
57 |
|
|
2 |
34 |
79 |
50 |
|
|
3 |
35 |
75 |
41 |
It feels like a year where Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle and West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta (both are options for City, albeit with their difficulties attached) take on the baton from club legends De Bruyne and Bernardo, with manager Pep Guardiola keeping hold of the steering wheel for one final season before departing himself, is not the most far-fetched scenario.
And there have been times recently when the idea of De Bruyne leaving has started to sound sensible. City, for a start, would most likely accept a big offer for a player, no matter how good he is, who only has a year left on his contract — which is set to be De Bruyne’s situation come July. The only debate is how big is big — £50million? £100m? These are conversations to be had, but City would have them if De Bruyne decided it’s time to go.
De Bruyne missed the first half of the season with injury (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
After recent matches against Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Real Madrid, the thought of De Bruyne leaving would have been an easier pill to swallow. He struggled in those games and, in many of them, Phil Foden has looked ready to make his move into midfield permanent anyway.
De Bruyne’s influence might be waning slightly, but on afternoons like Sunday, when he was named man of the match after making both goals in a vital win that cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to a point having played one game more than City, not least in a match they struggled for large parts of, it is difficult to imagine moving on from him at all, let alone doing so in the next few weeks.
It is quite remarkable that he has racked up 15 assists in only 19 appearances since the middle of January, especially with those quiet matches against the bigger sides thrown in.
Perhaps that provides some evidence that he is not the De Bruyne of old — he has for years been the player to decide the very biggest matches in City’s favour, something that Foden will have to emulate regularly if he is to be the long-term heir.
And De Bruyne has some mitigating circumstances, too. The inevitable knocks and niggles after major muscle surgery have held him back to some extent in recent weeks; he has battled on despite them — like he did this time last year when he knew his hamstring was on the verge of giving out but played on anyway to help City to the treble.
After the FA Cup final, he knew he was at serious risk but pushed on for the following weekend’s Champions League final — where it did give out, forcing him off before half-time — regardless.
That fighting spirit is something else that should not be overlooked when assessing his contribution to City and how they might move on after he goes. He even had a slight limp as he departed the City Ground on Sunday evening, though this is likely to be just tiredness rather than anything serious.
De Bruyne has explained recently that his role at the moment is to stay higher up the pitch, in part so he can harry opposition defenders when City do not have the ball. Despite those niggles and him looking close to exhaustion recently, including against Forest, he still hares around giving all he has got.
De Bruyne provided two assists on Sunday (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
That was probably most evident at Wembley last Saturday when, having not had enough gas in the tank to complete extra time in the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid less than 72 hours earlier, he got man of the match honours in the FA Cup semi-final win against Chelsea — and created the only goal, despite not being officially credited with the assist — even though most of his efforts when in possession going astray. He continued running off the ball as if City’s season depended on it.
And it might have done — had they lost at Wembley and exited both competitions in successive matches, there is no telling the damage it could have done to their title hopes. Guardiola said they played last weekend with the “sadness” of that defeat to Madrid; imagine if they had been beaten by Chelsea as well, the negative emotions compounding the tired legs.
Yet here they are, pushing for a double that would — if they win all their games — be sealed with another victory over United in the FA Cup final.
You would imagine that De Bruyne will have something to say about that along the way.
Foden was too ill to feature at all against Forest, news that left City fans concerned standards might slip without their most glittering recent performer.
But it is too early to even start thinking about life without De Bruyne.
Manchester City’s remaining games: Wolves (h), May 4; Fulham (a), May 11; Tottenham (a), May 14; West Ham (h), May 19; Manchester United (FA Cup final), May 25
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
