Manchester City fans have very much enjoyed watching Kevin De Bruyne at Euro 2024 so far.
The 32-year-old has featured in the first two games for Belgium, who lost their opener to Slovakia and then beat Romania.
Across both matches, De Bruyne was brilliant.
His performance against Romania, which featured a goal, was especially good, and the Red Devils captain just seemed to be determined to inspire his side to a vital win.
In the final weeks of 2023/24, De Bruyne looked a tad laboured for City. Despite posting solid assist numbers once again, he was certainly lacking his usual spark towards the end, with Phil Foden regularly outshining him.
But at Euro 2024 so far he’s been amazing – and a new report has shed some light on why that has been the case.
Kevin De Bruyne ‘has never been so radiant with the national team’, as Cristiano Ronaldo point made
De Bruyne has previously cut a frustrated figure when playing for Belgium.
The nation came up well short at the 2022 World Cup, exiting at the group stage after only picking up four points. At Euro 2020, they lost at the quarter-final stage against Italy.
Given the pool of talented players they have had, Belgium have generally been a disappointment at international tournaments, which has perhaps been a reason for De Bruyne’s frustrations.
But the picture is a little different now.
The £55 million City maestro is reported by Bild to be very happy behind the scenes at the moment. Manager Domenico Tedesco is quoted as saying: “I’ve only known Kevin for a good year. But many people say that he has never been so radiant with the national team. We need this positivity.”
Shortly after taking the job, Tedesco made it his priority to strike up a good relationship with De Bruyne. It is said one of his first acts was to make a call to the player, and he also apparently paid a personal visit to him in Manchester.
Intriguingly, De Bruyne made it clear that he did not want tactical plans to be centered around him, ‘unlike Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal’. ‘It was much more important to the City star that Tedesco has a clear idea for the entire team, which he can also stick to’, Bild added.
Brilliant to see De Bruyne shining for Belgium
Previously, De Bruyne has definitely cut a frustrated figure playing for Belgium.
So far at Euro 2024 he has looked full of energy and determination. Ange Postecoglou remarked after the win over Romania that De Bruyne’s lack of minutes for City may now be helping him.
The report from Bild is interesting, and it does sound like Tedesco placed a lot of emphasis on getting De Bruyne to a good place.
And the part about Tedesco not tailoring the plan to De Bruyne is particularly interesting. He is obviously the best player, and so there would perhaps be a temptation to make everything go through him.
But Belgium do have some very talented players, and it would be foolish to make a system that doesn’t get the most out of all of them.
