Kevin De Bruyne is the third midfielder to find a place in our 2017/18 Team of the Season.
Manchester City’s playmaker lagged some way behind Mohamed Salah (27.9%) and Raheem Sterling (22.2%) in our recent poll, earning just 8.46% of the votes cast.
Starting the season at a cost of £10.0m, the Belgian was the priciest option among Pep Guardiola’s midfielders after tallying 199 points in the campaign beforehand.
De Bruyne surpassed his previous career-high, going on to claim 209 points to rank third among midfielders in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Stationed in a deep-lying playmaker role, he was also the more secure pick among the City attack, starting 36 of their 38 league matches.
Yet with Sterling and David Silva setting you back just £8.0m at the start of the season and Leroy Sane opening at £8.5m, the Belgian never climbed beyond a cost of £10.4.
Dictating play for the league’s most potent attack, De Bruyne produced more key passes (105) and created more big chances (19) than any other player in the top-flight.
A total of 94 efforts on goal was ranked joint-fifth overall along with team-mate Sergio Aguero, though a penchant for long-range attempts means that only 22 of those shots were fired from inside the penalty box.
Nonetheless, he was second only to Salah among FPL midfielders for efforts on target (39 to 66).
In terms of bonus points in midfield, only Salah and David Silva were better off and by the narrowest of margins – they tallied 26 points apiece to the Belgian’s 25.
Looking at the breakdown of his season, De Bruyne started and finished poorly.
He managed just three assists over the opening six fixtures, and chipped in with a goal and two assists in the final 11 Gameweeks.
This meant that the majority of his returns arrived between Gameweeks 7-27.
Seven of De Bruyne’s eight goals and 13 of his 18 assists were produced over that 20-match period, as were all eight of his double-digit returns.
Compared with the previous season, De Bruyne’s minutes per shot (from 33.5 minutes to 32.8) and key pass (from 28 minutes to 29) were more or less identical.
But with the likes of Sterling and Sane upping their output, City were less reliant on De Bruyne last season.
He was involved in just 29% of their goals when on the pitch, down from 40% in 2016/17.
The Prospects
De Bruyne’s role as City’s chief orchestrator is undoubted.
Their number one for set-piece duties, he will again be among the main contenders for our five-man midfields.
And with Sterling and Sane both likely to be subject to price hikes, there will be less disparity in the trio’s costs this time around.
Factor in the expected arrival of Riyad Mahrez and the competition offered by the improving Bernardo Silva on the flanks, and the Belgian’s security of pitch time is again looking peerless.
Sterling’s total of 29 starts – seven less than De Bruyne – was the second best among the City attack and indicative of the latter’s importance.
Yet the England international’s average of 6.9 points per match, compared with De Bruyne’s 5.6 – matched by Sane and bettered by David Silva (5.8) – underlines the quantity, and quality, of options within Guardiola’s midfield alone.
De Bruyne’s poor start and finish to 2017/18 suggests he took time to hit his stride and suffered from fatigue in the latter stages.
Yet the opposite was true in the previous season.
Back in 2016/17, he produced two goals and six assists in the first six and two goals and nine assists from Gameweek 29 onwards.
Essentially, then, only two of his six goals and six of his 21 assists came between Gameweek 7-28 that term.
That’s more of an indication that, if necessary, De Bruyne is a player who requires patience, as the fixture-proof potency of City’s attack means that he is always liable of returning hefty scores in any given Gameweek.
Considering his role in City’s swashbuckling side, it’s a situation that seems near certain to continue once again next time around.
The only possible caveat concerns Belgium’s progress in the World Cup.
Should Roberto Martinez’s men make their way deep into the latter stages of the tournament, then De Bruyne’s minutes in City’s final friendlies may need monitoring if he returns late to pre-season training.
