Kevin De Bruyne equalled Thierry Henry’s record for providing the most assists (20) in a single Premier League season during the 2019/2020 season.
In the same campaign, Manchester City only won the Carabao Cup trophy while finishing second in the league to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side.
But Kevin De Bruyne arguably had his best individual season at the time, as he not just registered 20 assists but scored 13 goals in the league as well.
De Bruyne was at the peak of his powers, carrying the burden of a City side who were far from firing on all cylinders and were hit with a number of injury problems.
Aymeric Laporte, who was the Sky Blues’ best defender at the time was notably ruled out for much of the season with a knee injury – an absence that played a huge role in his side’s decline.
Even Sergio Aguero could only start 18 league games as the Argentine perhaps endured a degree of physical regression that ultimately led to his exit at the end of the following season.
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Kevin De Bruyne informed the Premier League they robbed him of assist record
Yet, De Bruyne was in scintillating touch and made history by matching Thierry Henry’s assist record, which he set in 2003.
But unfortunately for the Belgian, he was unable to surpass the Arsenal icon’s feat.
However, in an interview with the Premier League, De Bruyne claimed in September 2023 that his pass for Raheem Sterling’s opener in a 3-0 win against the Gunners was wrongly not attributed to him due to getting a touch off David Luiz.
“They still took one away against Arsenal from me.”
“They did. They took one away and when they celebrated my 100th assist, they put it as the first clip in the video. Can you imagine that, how wrong they were?”
But even during the season, De Bruyne promptly reminded the Premier League about their mistakes as they also did not credit him for a pass he played to Sterling in Manchester City’s 3-0 victory against Arsenal in June 2020.
While Luiz miskicked the ball, the pass was meant for the England international who went on to score. De Bruyne commented on the Premier League’s post at the time by correcting them that he had 18 instead of 16 assists at the time.
The midfield maestro should perhaps have been credited for 22 assists at the time.
Where does De Bruyne rank in the all-time Premier League assists table?
This season, Mohamed Salah could finally surpass Thierry Henry and De Bruyne’s assist record as four more to reach with nine league games still left.
But the Liverpool legend (86) still has plenty more assists left to prove to match the 33-year-old’s tally of 118.
De Bruyne sits in second place amongst the players with the most assists in Premier League history.
| MOST ASSISTS IN PREMIER LEAGUE HISTORY | |
| RYAN GIGGS | 162 |
| KEVIN DE BRUYNE | 118 |
| CESC FABREGAS | 111 |
| WAYNE ROONEY | 103 |
| FRANK LAMPARD | 102 |
| DENNIS BERGKAMP | 94 |
| DAVID SILVA | 93 |
| STEVEN GERRARD | 92 |
| JAMES MILNER | 89 |
| MOHAMED SALAH | 86 |
The Manchester City legend still has 44 assists to go if he wishes to reach Ryan Giggs (162), who tops the list.
De Bruyne could stay at City for another season and certainly close the gap between himself and Giggs.
But even so, the fact that the six-time Premier League winner played far less than the former Manchester United winger speaks volumes of how special a creator he has been during his time in England.
