Former Manchester City player and pundit Michael Brown has claimed that no other football player can do what Kevin De Bruyne does on the pitch.
After starting in City’s opening Premier League game of the season at Burnley, the midfielder was forced off the pitch in the 23rd minute with the same hamstring issue he picked up during the Champions League final back in June.
Pep Guardiola then revealed that the 32-year-old is set to spend the next four months out of action, which has now led to one former City player sharing his thoughts on this particular situation the treble winners now find themselves in.
Brown says De Bruyne is unique
Speaking in a pre-match live stream on the club’s YouTube channel ahead of the midweek Super Cup final against Sevilla, Brown had this to say about De Bruyne and what his absence could mean for the team going forward.
He said: “I don’t think there’s another player like him. Not only is he unbelievable at what he does, there’s nobody else that can actually do that. I’m trying to actually think of anybody who can actually do that role.
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“The whole team have got to contribute in different areas to make a more of a risk pass that Kevin De Bruyne would so we might see a little bit of that going forward or a wide player going past people a little bit more because you haven’t got that opening where it comes to a Kevin De Bruyne.”
Since joining the Manchester club back in 2015 in a deal worth £55m, the midfield maestro has gone on to make 358 appearances across all competitions, scoring 96 goals and delivering 153 assists along the way.
Having confirmed the severity of the Belgian’s injury and shared how long he’s likely to be on the sidelines for, Guardiola said that De Bruyne is irreplaceable in the team, which backs up what Brown had to say about him.
Taking into account how the veteran ended his previous Premier League campaign with more key passes (96) than any other City player, this showcases why Brown thinks the other players in Guardiola’s squad will need to do more in terms of creating goalscoring opportunities to make up for De Bruyne’s absence over the next few months.