No other playmaker has ever had Kevin De Bruyne's skillset

Today’s newsletter is a guest piece from Mohamed Mohamed (@moesquare on bsky) on Kevin De Bruyne, who has an opportunity to win one last trophy with Manchester City in the FA Cup final this weekend. We say goodbye to the Premier League’s best ever midfield playmaker with a look at what made him so special.

Moe has been writing about football in the public sphere for nearly a decade for various outlets, including The Analyst, The Athletic, and StatsBomb. As well, he’s dipped his toes into the world of YouTube with the channel Footy Insights, which looks into the present and past of the beautiful game.

Moe has written here several times previously, most recently about Rafael Leão, what makes him great, and what’s holding him back.

Over the years, the Premier League has been home to some of the finest creative talents in world football. Dennis Bergkamp’s ability to orchestrate in deeper areas while playing in a striker partnership was vital in Arsenal's ascension to multiple league titles. Wayne Rooney’s physicality and inventiveness helped him generate many assists from different game situations as part of a decorated career in English football. Mesut Özil and his deft touch made for some amazing highlights while racking up a ton of key passes in the 2010s. Those are just three of numerous high-end creators who’ve graced the English shores.

As it stands, English football is likely to be saying goodbye to perhaps the best playmaker it's ever seen. Kevin De Bruyne has been a crucial figure for Manchester City since signing in August of 2015. In the years since, he’s become their most decorated player with 19 honors accumulated. He ranks 2nd in the history of the PL for assists despite playing significantly less minutes than everyone else in the top 5. His 20 assists in 2019-20 remain tied with Thierry Henry for most in a single season. His presence helped already talented strikers like Sergio Agüero and Erling Haaland put up gaudy goal totals while playing alongside the Belgian because of their confidence that De Bruyne would perfectly play them through for in behind.

The past two seasons has seen De Bruyne look increasingly mortal due to injuries sapping away his physical advantages. The player he is now in his early 30s doesn’t quite strike fear into opponents with all those hard mileage on his odometer, although it says something that he still remains impactful as an attacker despite the decline in athleticism. Given his impending departure, it’s as good a time as any to reminisce on how devastating a force he was at his apex.

Part of what made De Bruyne stand out during his heyday was how impressive of a pace and power athlete he was. For someone who’s at least nominally thought of as a midfielder, he could really turn on the afterburners once he got to his 2nd and 3rd strides. He could ride challenges from opponents with the best of them after gaining an initial advantage. His ability to not lose touch on high value passes while moving at high speed was quite impressive, rarely showing choppy footwork in those situations which could slow or even eliminate high value opportunities.

De Bruyne’s coordination during progressive carries helped amplify the directness and risk taking of his pass selection. He constantly looked to quicken the pace with his passing, including during long passing sequences, finding outlet balls towards the flank as the potential secondary assist. That level of aggressiveness also showed itself with him regularly looking for home-run passes into space, including instances where he’d instinctively try throughballs on the 2nd touch. If a teammate was making a darting run forward during a fast attack, it’d be a surprise if De Bruyne didn’t look to play him through for a 1v1 against the opposing goalkeeper. In addition to that were the reverse passes and carefully placed dinks you see from some of the best chance creators in the sport.

No talk of De Bruyne’s passing would be complete without mentioning those famous whipped crosses from the right halfspace or slightly wider positions. Alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold, those two became synonymous for that type of pass while teammates would flood the box in anticipation, particularly towards the far post. These plays could happen in static situations versus a low block or during transitions with tons of room to run into. The crosses could also occur from short-range or from further out. It helped De Bruyne rack up 19 assists (17 from open play) in the 2019-20 season. His open play key passes and assists map below from that campaign is a work of art.

In addition to the prodigious on-ball talents, De Bruyne was capable off the ball as well during his athletic peak. He’d constantly look to make third man runs during buildup or in the middle third during settled possession, even sometimes playing on the blindside of his marker on the opposite halfspace to stealthy move forward a few yards into open areas. In the final third, he’d occasionally try to pin the central defenders like a striker to mixed success. Two situations where he was really fearsome were making himself available for short-range cut-backs, and arriving late around the 18 yard area Frank Lampard style.

Part of what made the Belgian a credible threat in these situations was that he became a fearsome two-footed shooter during his time in Manchester, so he’d need less of an opening to fire one off and make the goalkeeper sweat. He took 96 shots during his first five seasons with Man City off of his left foot, scoring 8 from a post-shot expected goal count of 6.94. The next five? 14 goals from 8.66 PSxG on 91 left-footed shots. So when he arrived late at the edge of the box or deeper for cut-backs, the pass didn’t need to be inch perfect for him to get quality contact on the ball.

The 4-1 victory vs Arsenal from late in the 2022-23 season was an example of De Bruyne’s off-ball awareness coming into play with devastating results. Man City constantly went long during Haaland, with De Bruyne playing off of him in those situations with runs in behind. That partnership paid massive dividends in Man City’s march towards the title, with De Bruyne instead playing the role of goalscorer as his two goals essentially sealed the deal in their favor.

Add all of this together, and you get a playmaking machine of the highest order. He had all the passes you’d want from an 8/10, alongside top tier physical attributes to make killer deliveries on the move, and the necessary pre-scanning to find open areas for himself. In addition, he could also get double digit goal figures in a season due to his shooting technique from various distances alongside a willingness to crash the box. That kind of attacking output is next to impossible to find from a “free eight.”

In terms of historical comparisons, it’s hard not to look at Steven Gerrard and think that to some extent, De Bruyne was his successor. During Gerrard’s peak in the mid-late 2000s, he was an off the cuff talent who combined impressive north ➡️ south athleticism both on and off the ball with a vast repertoire of pass types (including aerial passes from the right side) alongside an aggressive mindset as a playmaker. Both could create chances out of thin air, and could pop up in advantageous areas off the ball in or around the box (this was especially true with Gerrard once he played with Fernando Torres from 2008-10). Before his athletic decline, De Bruyne proved himself to be a capable cog in Man City’s ever evolving out of possession scheme, while Gerrard’s defense was more boom or bust, at least partly a byproduct of the era of football he was in.

The story of Kevin De Bruyne in English football has been one of perseverance and the cream eventually rising to the top. He bet on himself by signing away from Chelsea to get consistent game time, was a huge success in Germany with Wolfsburg, before coming back to the Premier League and making himself indispensable throughout the Pep Guardiola era despite not being a typical Guardiola midfielder. All the while, his unique skill-set made him a near guarantee to put up at least one goal/assist per appearance. Whether he’s the best midfielder in the history of the Premier League is up for debate, although he’s certainly on the shortlist, especially on a per minute basis. What’s undeniable is at his apex, few players could match the all-around impact of Kevin De Bruyne.

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