Kevin De Bruyne (born 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains both Premier League club Manchester City and the Belgium national team. De Bruyne is often described as one of the best and most complete modern day advanced playmakers due to his technique, skill, athleticism, work-rate off the ball, vision, crossing accuracy, wide range of passing, and powerful long-range shooting ability with either foot.
De Bruyne began his professional senior career at Genk, where he was a regular player when they won the 2010–11 Belgian Pro League. In 2012, he joined English club Chelsea, where he was used sparsingly and then loaned to Werder Bremen. He signed with Wolfsburg for £18 million in 2014, establishing himself as one of the best players in the Bundesliga and was integral in the club's 2014–15 DFB-Pokal win. In the summer of 2015, De Bruyne joined Manchester City for a then-club record £54 million. He has since won the UEFA Champions League, six Premier League titles, five League Cups and two FA Cups with the club. In 2017–18, he had a significant role in City becoming the only Premier League team to attain 100 points in a single league season. In 2019–20, De Bruyne equalled the record for most assists in a Premier League season and was named Player of the Season, the award he won for the second time in 2021–22. He was again heavily involved in 2022–23, as Manchester City sealed the continental treble in their most successful season to date.
He made his full international debut in 2010, and he has since earned over 90 caps, scoring 26 goals for Belgium. He was a member of the Belgian squads that reached the quarter-finals both at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016. De Bruyne was named in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as Belgium finished in third place, as well as appearing at UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
De Bruyne has been named in the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season, IFFHS Men's World Team and the ESM Team of the Year five times each, the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 four times, the UEFA Team of the Year three times, and the France Football World XI and the Bundesliga Team of the Year once each. He has also won the Premier League Playmaker of the Season three times, the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, Manchester City's Player of the Year four times, the UEFA Champions League Midfielder of the Season, the Bundesliga Player of the Year, the Footballer of the Year (Germany), the Belgian Sportsman of the Year and the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker three times each.
A versatile and highly talented player in the media, he plays mainly as a attacking or an central midfielder but can also operate in several other positions and has been used as a winger or second striker. He has even been deployed in a deeper creative midfield position and on occasion, a box-to-box role or as a false 9. He is often described by pundits as one of the best and most complete modern day advanced playmakers due to his technique, skill, athleticism, work-rate off the ball, vision, crossing accuracy, wide range of passing, and powerful long-range shooting ability with either foot.
Although he is not blessed with significant physical strength, pace, or ability in the air, he is a quick and elegant player on the ball with good dribbling skills, while his positional sense, tactical intelligence, movement, direct style of play and ability to run at defences when in possession also enable him to take advantage of spaces in the opposition's defence and subsequently create chances and goalscoring opportunities for himself or his teammates, making him a dangerous offensive threat on counter-attacks. In addition to his creative abilities, he is also capable of scoring goals by making late runs off the ball from behind into the penalty area and is an accurate set-piece taker. |
