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Emblematic player of Manchester City, Kevin de Bruyne announced on Friday that he will leave the English club after the season. In ten years, the Belgian midfielder has entered the legend of Citizens and English football.
The end of an era. Arrived in 2015 in Manchester City, Kevin de Bruyne, at the end of the contract, announced Friday his departure from the English club after the season. “I'm going to go to the point and announce that the following months will be my last as a Manchester City player,” wrote the Belgian midfielder in a very moving message on his social networks. “Football led me to you and to this city. To continue my dream, without knowing that this period would change my life. This city. This club. These people … they gave me everything. I had no choice but to give everything in return. And guess what, we won everything.”
In ten years, Kevin de Bruyne wrote his legend in the Mancunian club and English football, winning six Premier League titles, two Cups of England, three Community Shield, five League Cups and especially the very first Champions League in the History of Skyblues in 2023.
An outstanding passer
“He is one of the greatest players we have seen. His passes, his goals, his vision of the game in the last 30 meters will be difficult to replace. What he has done in the past ten years is remarkable,” praised his coach Pep Guardiola at a press conference on Friday.
In 413 appearances, all competitions combined, with the Skyblues (including 349 times as a holder), Kevin de Bruyne scored 106 goals and delivered 169 assists. He co-sends with Thierry Henry, the record for the number of assists in one season (20, in 2019-2020) in the Premier League. An English championship that he has marked with his imprint: he is the player who has delivered the most assists since 2015-2016, becoming the second best decisive passer in history behind Ryan Giggs (162 against 118) and the best decisive passer of the club.
With 277 games on the forerun in the Premier League under the colors of the Citizens, the Belgian is only ahead of David Silva and his 309 selections in the English championship. Scorer 70 times, he is far from the record of Sergio Agüero (184 goals), another legend of Manchester City, and points “only” to fourth place in this ranking, berred in particular by Erling Haaland (84 goals at only 24 years old).
“The best and most talented”
“One of our best players in our history. Give him a statue!” Reacted a Mancunian supporter with Manchester Evening News.“It is a legend of Manchester City. Other players have statues at Etihad and one can imagine that he has one in the future,” added one of the journalists De Skysports, Ben Ransom. “Kevin de Bruyne was the best and most talented in the championship. He had everything. (…) In other words, he was a genius,” wrote journalist Jason Burt for The Telegraph.
Designated the best Premier League player twice (2019-2020 and 2021-2022) -a record held with Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidic -, the 33 -year -old midfielder also won the player of the season in Manchester City four times. But despite these shovel records and his list long like an arm, he never won the Ballon d'Or, finishing third in 2022 … Unlike his teammate Rodri. The Spaniard, also a centerpiece of the success of the Citizens in the Premier League, won this trophy in 2024, after having also shone with the Roja at the Euro.
With four goals and seven assists so far for the year 2024-2025 Kevin de Bruyne is experiencing a difficult last season with the Citizens. Operated by the hamstrings in 2023, which held him away from the field during the first part of the 2023-2024 championship, he injured the thigh of the same leg again shortly after his recovery. Unavailable for several weeks this fall, he has lost playing time and even his place as a holder in a team in the midst of a crisis. He can nevertheless end his adventure with a final title: a third England Cup, whose Mancunians will compete in a semi-final in Nottingham Forest on April 27.
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