Gabby Agbonlahor has hailed Kevin De Bruyne as a player who can conjure magic even when his teammates make unrealistic runs.
It has been another fine campaign from the Belgian maestro, who has just been named in FIFA’s Premier League Team of the Season.
De Bruyne has been extremely productive, making 27 assists and scoring 10 goals in all competitions.
The £54 million ace actually started the season a little slowly by his high standards. But he has really gone to another level over the past few months.
De Bruyne’s connection with Erling Haaland has been particularly special.
Many expected them to hit it off, and at times this season they have been just deadly. They have already combined for 15 goals across all competitions this season.
But it isn’t just Haaland who benefits from De Bruyne’s incredible playmaking – it’s everyone.
Agbonlahor was participating in a video for talkSPORT in which he was asked to make his dream 5-a-side team.
Without hesitation, he plumped for De Bruyne as his midfielder, saying: “My midfielder I would love to have played with… I have to put Kevin De Bruyne in there.
“I just feel like if I played with someone like De Bruyne, the runs you could make. I liked to get through on goal and with someone like him picking the ball up you could make any run.
“These City players make unrealistic runs where the ball really shouldn’t find you, De Bruyne will make it happen, he will make the ball find you.”
Kevin De Bruyne is truly a generational talent and Manchester City are incredibly lucky to have him
De Bruyne’s range is something special.
Players in other teams could make the same kind of runs as some of City’s players. But they will not be found because of the difficulty of the pass required.
De Bruyne has the capacity to make passes that should not be possible.
One good recent example of this was a left-footed cross he put in against Real Madrid in the first-half on Tuesday.
De Bruyne was on the stretch on the left wing, and somehow managed to whip his (weaker) foot around the ball and curl it into the box.
No one got on the end of it, suggesting that even City players sometimes forget he is capable of the highly unlikely.
