Manchester City have suffered a blow in their bid to retain the Premier League title this season as star man Kevin De Bruyne has been ruled out for 2-3 months after sustaining a knee injury. Pep Guardiola is sure to be trying to work out a solution to this conundrum but how important has KDB been to his Manchester City side? We delve deep into the statistics to find out.
De Bruyne was the standout midfielder in the top flight last year, assisting 21 goals and creating 24 big chances. Manchester United Paul Pogba, for comparison, got 11 assists and created just six big chances.
The midfield metronome was the beating heart of that record-breaking City side, making 3503 passes in total with 53 of those being through balls. He also completed on average, 2.4 dribbles per game and had a ridiculous 4631 touches over the course of the season.
Compare that statistic to teammate David Silva who had 3446 touches and 1.6 dribbles per game. Both of those number completely dwarf Manchester united’s influential midfielder Paul Pogba, who had 2601 touches but did complete more dribbles per game, at 3.4.
The Belgian’s 131 key passes also beat his Spanish teammates total of 84 and Pogba’s 43. KDB’s importance to Man City is huge as we have seen in the statistics listed above but they do have several players who can step up in his absence.
All eyes will now turn to David Silva, a Man City, great to provide some creativity in the centre of the park but he will also have support from Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan who will also be vying for starting places in De Bruyne’s absence.
Riyad Mahrez is looking to nail down a starting place in the side and could fancy himself in more of a number 10 position with the Belgian out and Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane looking dangerous from wide positions.
Pep Guardiola will have thought of a back-up plan with this situation in mind, but this could make the title race a little more interesting this season, if only for the first few months.
You can find all of these statistics on The Sportsman's stats page here.
