Dear Manchester...
De Bruyne's departure signals the end of an era.
Everyone knew a rebuild was coming at Manchester City.
And everyone knew this day would eventually come.
As it did for Vincent Kompany, as it did for David Silva, the day has now arrived for Kevin De Bruyne to say farewell.
On Friday, De Bruyne confirmed this was it. One last dance. The Belgian is heading for pastures new — those pastures are yet to be determined, though Saudi Arabian and American clubs have been mooted as possibilities — after 10 remarkable years in sky blue.
De Bruyne will go down as arguably the Premier League’s best midfielder yet. Maybe even, at his peak, the league’s best player ever.
And his peak has been sustained over several years.
But while that debate will trundle on, what we do know is De Bruyne has delivered some of the most spellbinding moments of the past decade.
This was, of course, the De Bruyne that was doubted by some pundits back in 2015 when he arrived at City.
De Bruyne joined Chelsea from Genk in 2012, six months before Eden Hazard — his compatriot and one year his senior. Yet while Hazard went on to become a great in Chelsea blue, De Bruyne could not find his feet at Stamford Bridge.
But a loan to Werder Bremen allowed De Bruyne to show his quality, and after a brief return to Chelsea, he left for Wolfsburg, where he thrived.
In his season-and-a-half at Wolfsburg, De Bruyne assisted 35 goals across all competitions, and scored 20.
He displayed all the qualities of a top-class playmaker, though Sky Sports pundits Paul Merson and Phil Thompson famously scoffed at the £50million fee that City were splashing out.
"Absolutely bonkers. He is a good player, but is he a great player? Come on."
- Phil Thompson, Sky Sports
De Bruyne swiftly proved the pair wrong, scoring 17 goals and setting up 14 in his first season at City.
And the numbers behind his City career are simply staggering.
Since he signed for the club, he has created 827 chances in the Premier League. That is some 294 more than any other player in the competition in that time.
He has scored 106 City goals and laid on 169 assists in all competitions.
And like Kompany and Silva before him, De Bruyne is bowing out after a decade at the club.
Kompany said farewell in 2019; Silva in 2020.
Injuries have caught up with De Bruyne in recent seasons. He missed much of the first half of last term and has been in and out this campaign.
But for all the quality at Pep Guardiola’s disposal, De Bruyne, even in the past few years, has been the catalyst behind City’s era of unprecedented dominance.
City will move on. De Bruyne will move on. The league will move on. But he will be missed.
Those glorious crosses from the right half-space; those eye-of-the-needle passes; the odd surging run from midfield, followed by an unstoppable thunderbolt into the back of the net.
De Bruyne’s contract situation has rumbled on, but it feels like the right time to say goodbye.
He is 33, and though he has still proved a creative force for a faltering City this season, the rigours and demands of Premier League football are perhaps proving too much.
For City, perhaps the last great stalwart of Guardiola’s tenure has gone. Ilkay Gundogan is a club great, but he isn’t Kevin De Bruyne. The same can be said of John Stones, who will mark nine years with the club this summer.
And this change almost feels like ripping the plaster off. City, and De Bruyne, will want to end the season on a high, by qualifying for the Champions League and winning the FA Cup. They face Manchester United on Sunday, and owe Ruben Amorim’s team one after a late capitulation in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
But there is a rebuild coming, and it is probably best to part ways and force City’s hand — they will have to seek some form of replacement, though that is easier said than done. How do you replace a player that, even as recently as last season, was still probably among the top five in world football?
Guardiola is staying on to oversee the transition, but De Bruyne will be watching from afar, sure of his place as a club, and Premier League, legend.
I think that he's the greatest creative midfielder that the Premier League has ever seen; meaning that while he is not as good a goalscorer as some other midfielders, or as good defensively, nobody creates goals like he does.