Manchester City’s Ginger Dynamo

On the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season, margins at the top were razor-thin. The only way for Manchester City to ensure a league title was to beat Aston Villa, a seemingly simple task for the historically exceptional side. However, in an unlikely turn of events, City found themselves having to rally back from a 2-0 deficit with 20 minutes to play. Within two minutes, they had already managed to equalize, an incredible feat in itself. Still at a draw, they desperately needed one more goal, one more magical moment, to win them both the game and the league. 

Just when it seemed that Aston Villa were regaining their footing, fullback João Cancelo attempted a through ball into striker Gabriel Jesus. The pass was denied by centerback Tyrone Mings, who only sent the ball so far as the edge of the box. Coming from seemingly out of nowhere, attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne pounced on the loose ball, gliding past two lines of the Villa defense. In stride, he delivered a perfect pass across the face of the goal in front of three defenders and the goalkeeper, right into the path of midfielder İlkay Gündoğan, who merely had to tap the ball across the line to win the league.

Delirious moments like these were few and far between in City’s history, and though he didn’t score the goal, it’s important to credit the creative player behind much of the Mancunians’ recent success. De Bruyne persevered through immense struggles and setbacks, all of which he came back stronger from. Given that many successful professional players are produced by giants in Europe, a player like De Bruyne is extremely rare and special. De Bruyne, who went through the ranks of Genk, a small academy in Belgium, managed to make his way to English giant Chelsea, an enormously successful club known for harboring young talent. He was quickly sent out on loan to German club Werder Bremen, where he found success. He developed as a player, scoring ten goals and assisting nine in his first 33 games at the club. This was already an incredible achievement, but it seemed that his promising path might come to an end. Carrying high expectations, De Bruyne returned to Chelsea. To everyone’s dismay, he tallied zero goals and one assist in three seasons in a mere three appearances for the club. 

He played under legendary manager José Mourinho at Chelsea, but it doesn’t take much to deduce that the two did not get along. Mourinho’s style of management involves defensive discipline—and irritatingly boring matches—often just relying on one or two moments in the match to win. This is quite the opposite of how De Bruyne plays—with pace, creativity, and high tempo. In addition to not aligning with his manager, the Premier League is a huge difference from the German and Belgian leagues, as it is known to be more physical and of higher quality overall. 

After three shaky years at Chelsea, De Bruyne was sent to Wolfsburg, another German club. Despite being just twenty-three, he had already been labeled a “Chelsea reject,” with pundits and fans alike doubting that he would ever be able to compete at the Premier League level.

He proved all those doubters wrong at Wolfsburg. There, he put up electric performances in the 2014/15 campaign—contributing to 10 goals and 20 assists. Just a season later, De Bruyne was picked up by Manchester City, another dominant Premier League side, in a then club-record transfer of €76 million. High expectations came with the big-money move, but he immediately backed up the price tag with his otherworldly performances. His experience in Manchester was nothing like that at Chelsea, appearing 25 times in the league in his first season and notching six goals and 17 assists. 

Prior to De Bruyne’s time at Manchester City, the club was already at an elite level, always competing for the domestic title and the cup. However, their lineup wasn’t as talented as it has become. Their midfield starred James Milner, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, and David Silva, all of whom were talented but lacked De Bruyne’s utter dominance. His vision, technique, and physicality surpass those of everyone in City’s past midfield, making him an exceptional and complete player. 

Since joining City, De Bruyne has won five league titles, scored 97 goals, and assisted 147. The Citizens have been undoubtedly the most dominant club in the world over the past six years, having won four league titles, five League Cups, two FA Cups, and the Champions League, the pinnacle of European soccer and something the club had never conquered. Throughout all these victories, De Bruyne was the anchor of the team. With him, City has an incredibly low loss percentage of just 14 percent, while that rises to 25 percent in the games without the Belgian.

De Bruyne’s relationship with Guardiola has been a large part of City’s success, and Guardiola isn’t one to hide from that fact. Though City’s stalwart manager has found success in Germany, Spain, and England, he has seen nothing like De Bruyne. “Kevin De Bruyne is the best player in Europe bar [Messi],” Guardiola said in a 2017 interview.

Even when De Bruyne is vocal in his anger—a rare occurrence—Guardiola isn’t one to limit his star player’s voice. “I love it when we shout at each other…I like this energy,” Guardiola said. He’s a manager who has benched some generational talents over issues with respect (notably forward Thierry Henry), and the fact that he values De Bruyne’s ideas and energy enough to not only not punish him but to praise him shows how highly he thinks of De Bruyne. 

Recently, City signed Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, known as one of, if not the, best striker in club football. His physicality and pace are unmatched, and he complements them with lethal finishing. Haaland broke the all-time Premier League goal-scoring record in his first season in England, silencing any critics who speculated that he wouldn’t be able to perform as well as he did in Germany in England. His partnership with De Bruyne is arguably the deadliest in soccer, as De Bruyne always seems to create opportunities for Haaland, who is more than capable of finishing them.  

Despite his proven brilliance, his recent knee injuries that have sidelined him for several months have raised concerns regarding his performance going forward. He is now 32 years old, past the prime of his career, and the modern game requires increased speed and physicality. While De Bruyne isn’t terribly unathletic, he certainly won’t be able to match the pace of his teammates like Haaland and shifty midfielder Bernardo Silva.

He faced these concerns head-on, returning to the pitch on January 7, 2024, in an FA Cup match versus second-division side Huddersfield. Within minutes of coming on, he lofted a ball from the touchline to the wide open winger Jeremy Doku, who finished with ease. His impact was immediate. However, as a player coming back from injury, he was still limited in his minutes. Assisting in a 5-0 victory versus a second-tier team is nothing like competing in the Premier League, the next task for him.

Six days later, City played Newcastle United, a strong English side who qualified last year for the Champions League for the first time since the 2002/2003 season. City went up 1-0 in the 26th minute thanks to Silva, only to be scored on twice in two minutes by an energetic Newcastle. Deep into the second half, the Sky Blues dominated the game but couldn’t seem to break through. De Bruyne was subbed on in the 69th minute, with his side needing an immediate impact from him.

That is exactly what they got. Five minutes after stepping on the pitch, De Bruyne made a forward run and effortlessly slotted the ball into the lower left corner of the net, drawing City level at two apiece. Seventeen minutes after that, De Bruyne picked up the ball halfway into Newcastle’s end and lifted it right over the Newcastle defense for young winger Oscar Bobb to finish, securing the victory.

His match-winning display is an indication that he is still in top form and will be a nuisance for all defenses for a long time to come. His game is timeless, and the initial quality of his return demonstrates that. City’s Ginger Dynamo is back in full.