The news that every Manchester City supporter had been dreading, but ultimately expected, was announced on Friday when “global icon” Kevin De Bruyne confirmed that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season.
De Bruyne will see his contract at the Etihad Stadium expire on June 30, just two days after his 34th birthday, and he has taken to social media to announce that “these will be my final months as a Manchester City player”.
The 109-cap Belgium international will soon bring the curtain down on an illustrious trophy-laden decade with Pep Guardiola‘s side and he has been tipped to continue his career in either MLS or the Saudi Pro League.
Injuries and fitness issues have ultimately caught up on De Bruyne, who has played just 1,102 minutes in the Premier League this season, having only played fewer in the 2018-19 campaign (974) when he had several injury problems.
Had Man City’s chief creator stayed fit for longer this season, the Citizens may not have endured such a turbulent campaign, and the long-term absence of fellow midfield maestro Rodri may not have been felt so severely.
It is fair to say that De Bruyne has had an enormous impact not just at Man City, but in the Premier League and across Europe, honing his craft under the tutelage of arguably the greatest manager of the modern era in Guardiola.
© Imago
Few would have envisaged De Bruyne returning to the Premier League as the second-most expensive transfer in British history when he left Chelsea for Wolfsburg in January 2014. However, a brilliant 2014-15 season, which saw the Belgian record the most assists in Europe’s top-five leagues (20) and create the most open-play chances (74) in the Bundesliga, caught the attention of Man City.
Infamously, some high-profile names were left baffled by Man City forking out a reported £54.5m on De Bruyne. “The amount of money they are paying for this boy is absolutely bonkers,” Phil Thompson said on Sky Sports. “He is a good player, but is he a great player? Come on.” Paul Merson agreed, adding: “I just don’t see this. I do not see £50m for this player.”
Boy has De Bruyne proved them and many others wrong!
The playmaker’s announcement to depart Man City has led to an inevitable debate over where he and many other Premier League midfield icons rank among the greatest to have graced the division since its inception back in 1992.
Many will question how you can compare the creative attributes of technicians such as De Bruyne to combative and powerful figures including Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira. Their specialties may differ but all three can be considered complete midfielders, while it would be nonsensical to overlook the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes who deservedly enter the conversation, too.
However, taking into consideration De Bruyne’s astonishing achievements, his statistical output as well as his overall impact and trophy haul, it is hard to argue against Man City’s No.17 being the greatest of them all.
5 – Most assists in Premier League history, including each player’s minutes per assist ratio:
162 – Ryan Giggs (287)
118 – Kevin De Bruyne (177)
111 – Cesc Fàbregas (238)
103 – Wayne Rooney (369)
102 – Frank Lampard (479)
Creators. pic.twitter.com/v5yvW97cwI
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 4, 2025
Man City’s creative genius is the modern-day assist king
At Man City, De Bruyne established himself as the key creative cog in Guardiola’s sky-blue machine and when it comes to creativity, the Belgian has had few equals in English football.
An exceptional artist with the ball at his feet, De Bruyne’s 360-degree vision which allows him to see the impossible passes is a trait that makes him stand out from the rest, while his remarkable assist tally can only be bettered by one player in Premier League history.
Indeed, De Bruyne sits second behind former Man United winger Ryan Giggs (162) in the all-time Premier League assists charts (118), with 117 of those registered as a Man City player and just one for Chelsea.
The three-time Playmaker of the Year award winner – a record in its own right – has the joint record for the most assists in a Premier League season, providing an impressive 20 assists in the 2019-20 campaign to match Thierry Henry‘s tally at Arsenal in 2002-03.
Of players to make at least 50 PL appearances, De Bruyne boasts the best minutes-per-assist ratio in the division’s history (177), comfortably ahead of his nearest challenger Dennis Bergkamp in second (236 mins per assist). He is also clear of Giggs (287 mins), Cesc Fabregas (238 mins), Wayne Rooney (369 mins) and Lampard (479 mins) who, along with De Bruyne, rank in the top five for all-time assists.
Creating chances comes naturally to De Bruyne and his numbers are quite frankly staggering. Since he joined City almost 10 years ago, the playmaker has provided at least 32 more PL assists than any other player, has created at least 294 more chances than anyone else (827) and has created at least 214 more open-play chances than anyone (593) – simply extraordinary.
Two minutes of Kevin De Bruyne assists 🤤 pic.twitter.com/5uiKoUxpqO
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 4, 2025
De Bruyne has created a Premier League-high 194 big chances since his debut in August 2015, which is 65 more than any other player. He has also produced a total of 209 through-balls and only four others in the division have attempted even half as many in that time.
Furthermore, since Opta records began in 2003-04, only Fabregas (846) has created more chances than De Bruyne (830) overall in the Premier League (including three for Chelsea), and there is still scope for him to climb to the top of the pile before the season comes to a close. He sits ahead of Gerrard (828), Lampard (802) and another Man City legend, David Silva (793), who complete the top five.
Technically skilled with both feet, De Bruyne has also had an eye for goal, scoring 70 times in the Premier League to date, with a third of those netted with his supposedly weaker left foot. No player over the last 15 years has scored more PL goals from outside the box than the Belgian (29), although Lampard leads the way overall with 41 strikes from at least 18 yards out.
Boasting the fourth-most goal involvements in the division since arriving at City (187), De Bruyne is only behind Mohamed Salah (267), Harry Kane (231) and Son Heung-min (198), an impressive feat when you take into consideration that he has only reached double figures for goals in two of his nine completed league seasons with the Citizens to date (13 in 2019-20 and 15 in 2021-22).
De Bruyne’s combined creativity and goal threat has given PL defences nightmares and he has certainly not made it easy for the opposition, scoring or assisting against 30 of the 33 Premier League clubs he faced as a Man City player.
© Imago
How does De Bruyne compare to other Premier League greats?
Goals ultimately change games and De Bruyne has been an integral figure at Man City is both scoring and assisting many of those (187 goal contributions in 277 PL games) that have helped the Citizens to dominate for much of the glittering decade he has enjoyed at the club.
De Bruyne (70) has netted more than twice as many PL goals as Vieira (31) and Keane (39), who primarily operated deeper in midfield at Arsenal and Man United respectively, but he has scored fewer than Lampard (177), Gerrard (120) and Scholes (107).
The Drongen-born playmaker is top of the pile in terms of PL assists, though, compared to Lampard (102), Gerrard (92), Scholes (55), Vieira (34) and Keane (33), while his goal-and-assist-per-game ratio (0.67) also ranks higher than each of Lampard (0.46), Gerrard (0.42), Scholes (0.32), Vieira (0.21) and Keane (0.20).
David Silva is another who deserves a special mention when discussing the very best, and many Man City supporters will argue that he is in fact the club’s greatest ever player and therefore their greatest ever midfielder. Only ‘El Mago’ (309) has made more PL appearances for Man City than De Bruyne (277), but the Belgian has registered 24 more assists in that time (118 compared to 93 for Silva) and has scored 10 more goals (70 compared to 60 for Silva).
De Bruyne is hoping to end the current campaign on a high by winning a third FA Cup, and potentially a second Club World Cup, but as things stand, he has won a total of 19 trophies at Man City, with 14 of those considered major honours including six Premier League titles. Only five other players in PL history have won more, and two of those are midfielders (Scholes with 11 and Keane with seven).
However, what De Bruyne holds over both of those, and almost every other player aside from a handful of his City teammates, is that he won four of his six Premier League titles in a row, an unprecedented feat that was achieved by Guardiola’s side between 2021 and 2024.
In comparison, Lampard and Vieira won only three league titles during spells with Chelsea and Arsenal respectively, while Gerrard famously never lifted the English top-flight trophy in his memorable 17-year career at Liverpool – arguably the one true metric that holds him back when discussing the greatest ever.
Kevin De Bruyne will depart Man City at the end of this season with one of the most-decorated Premier League careers 🏆 pic.twitter.com/A4Dz9zbNyK
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 4, 2025
De Bruyne the heartbeat of Man City’s dominant team
Champions League finals were not kind on De Bruyne, who was forced off early twice through injury, but he celebrated winning the most admired European club trophy of all in 2023 as part of a historic treble-winning campaign for Man City, the second club after rivals Man United to win the UCL, Premier League and FA Cup in the same season.
On the domestic front, De Bruyne has been at the heart of Man City’s success, including the ‘Centurion’ season (accumulating 100 points) in 2017-18 – winning his first PL title – the ‘Fourmidables’ campaign, winning all four domestic trophies in one season for the first time in English football history, winning the aforementioned treble and also celebrating an unprecedented fourth successive title last season – not bad to have all that on your CV!
In terms of individual awards, De Bruyne has surprisingly never won a Premier League Player of the Month accolade, but he is one of only four players in history, and the only midfielder, to have been crowned PL Player of the Year on two occasions alongside Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidic.
Vieira won the POTY award once (2000-01) along with Lampard (2004-05), but Gerrard, Scholes and Keane are among many greats who were unable to get their hands on the prestigious prize. Keane was somewhat unfortunate, though, that the award was first introduced in 1995, three years after the Premier League was formed.
Meanwhile, the record for the most Premier League Team of the Year appearances is held by Gerrard (eight), who sits ahead of Vieira (six), De Bruyne, Keane (both five), Lampard (three) and Scholes (two).
© Imago
De Bruyne deserves all the plaudits that come his way
As time continues to pass, the beautiful game as we know it is characterised by faster, stronger, and more physically imposing players who are involved in a more dynamic and tactically-evolving environment. The Premier League is widely regarded as the best league in world football and De Bruyne’s exceptional achievements have taken place in this modern era we find ourselves in.
That is worth taking into account when discussing the greatest Premier League players and comparing those from different generations, as stars like De Bruyne have had to adapt their game, physically more than anything else, in order to continue to thrive at the elite level, and in his case, take City to brand new heights along the way.
From a subjective perspective, one will argue that De Bruyne has it all. He can comfortably play in a plethora of midfield and attacking positions, has proven time and time again that he can have a major impact in games and decide matches on the biggest stage with moments of pure brilliance, and has done so as arguably the most important player in the most dominant Premier League team in the modern era.
While for some the greatest Premier League midfielder of all time is still (and probably always will be) up for debate, it is safe to say that De Bruyne can go down as a Man City legend and as one of their greatest ever players, a view supported by Guardiola among many others.
De Bruyne has been a delight to watch; a beautiful, well-respected footballer who facilitated Man City’s record-breaking success and will deservedly receive all the plaudits that come his way from those in sky blue.
