Kevin De Bruyne: His Evolution From Promising Talent to World-Class Playmaker 2023

Kevin De Bruyne is a Belgian professional footballer born June 28th, 1991. He plays as a midfielder for Manchester City in the Premier League and is the captain of the Belgium national team.

Everyone knows that De Bruyne is one of the best midfielders in the world. Some experts have tagged him as a “well-rounded footballer” because of his ability to create assists, and I doubt if there’s any player in the premier league with more assists than De Bruyne. You can learn more about Kevin De Bruyne as you read this article.

History, early life, and family background

Kevin De Bruyne was born on June 28th, 1991, in Ghent, a province in the Flemish region of Belgium. He was born as a white Caucasian, a fraction of Belgium’s white race.
De Bruyne’s parents are Herwig De Bruyne (his father) and Anna De Bruyne (his mother). During his early years, De Bruyne frequently visited his mother’s relatives in Ealing, England, where his mother lived. More so, his family had frequented the African countries of Ivory Coast and Burundi, where his family had established oil firm branches.
Kevin De Bruyne started playing football when he was four years old. He played for his club in his hometown of Drongen, Belgium, where he lives with his parents.

Club Career

Genk

In 1997, De Bruyne kicked off his professional career with KVV Drongen. He joined Gent in 2005 and relocated to Genk the following year. De Bruyne continued to improve in their youth program and got called up to join the first team in 2008.
De Bruyne played his first game for Genk on May 9th, 2009. The Belgian star scored his first goal for Genk on February 7th, 2010. KDB scored his first goal for Genk on February 18th, 2012, after agreeing to go to Chelsea. During the 2010–11 season, he played 32 league games for Genk, contributing five goals and sixteen assists as the team won its third straight Belgian championship.

Chelsea

On January 31st, 2012, the last day of the winter transfer window, Chelsea and Genk confirmed that De Bruyne had signed a contract to join Chelsea FC. De Bruyne joined Chelsea on a five-and-a-half-year deal for a fee rumored to be around £7 million. De Bruyne said on the club website, “Coming to a team like Chelsea is a dream, but now I have to work hard to reach the level that’s needed.” On July 18th, 2012, De Bruyne made his Chelsea debut in a friendly match against the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS).

Werder Bremen

On July 31st, 2012, Chelsea revealed that De Bruyne would join Bundesliga club Werder Bremen on loan. He got his first goal for Bremen in a 3–2 loss to Hannover 96 on September 15th.

Back to Chelsea

Although De Bruyne suffered a knee injury trying to score his first goal for Chelsea against a Malaysia XI in a pre-season friendly, he was able to make his Premier League debut on the opening day of the 2013–14 season, helping Chelsea to a 2-0 victory over Hull City. The Belgian captain was linked with a transfer to Borussia Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen after his impressive loan spell with Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. The midfielder returned to Chelsea on July 1st, 2013.

Wolfsburg

On January 18th, 2014, Wolfsburg signed De Bruyne for £18 million (€22 million). He played his first game for Wolfsburg on January 25th, 2014
The Belgian star scored his first goal for Wolfsburg when they beat Hamburger SV 3-1 on the road. He also scored in his team’s last two Bundesliga games against VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Monchengladbach. With ten goals and 21 assists, De Bruyne set a new Bundesliga record and helped Wolfsburg finish second in the Bundesliga and earn a spot in the UEFA Champions League.

De Bruyne had a great season in 2015, scoring 16 goals and setting up 27 others. He had a great season in 2015, scoring 16 goals and setting up 27 others. He was named Germany’s Footballer of the Year for 2015.
Amid transfer rumors in August of the 2015-16 season, De Bruyne stated that he would not force Wolfsburg to sell him but that he could not ignore interest from Manchester City: “If an offer does come, I will hear about it and how much it is, but I have not yet heard anything.”

On August 10th, it was said that Manchester City presented a second offer of £47 million for De Bruyne. Three weeks later, Manchester City offered £58 million for Belgian player Kevin De Bruyne.

Manchester City

De Bruyne’s time as a midfielder for Manchester City in the English Premier League has been characterized by creating multiple assists for City players like Aguero, Sterling, and Halland.
On August 30th, 2015, Manchester City signed De Bruyne to a six-year deal for a reported club-record fee of £55 million (€75 million). This made him the second-most expensive transfer in British football history after Ngel Di Mara’s move to Manchester United in 2014.

De Bruyne played his first game for Manchester City on September 12th against Crystal Palace. On September 19th, he got his first goal for the team during extra time of a 2–1 loss to West Ham United.
The Belgian captain had a great start in the English Premier League. And on October 2nd, it was reported that De Bruyne, along with teammates Agüero and Yaya Touré, was on the longlist for the famous FIFA Ballon d’Or award. On October 20th, just 18 days later, FIFA announced that he was one of the 23 players on the watchlist for the Ballon d’Or.

On January 22nd, 2018, De Bruyne signed a new long-term deal with the club that will keep him there until 2023. In a 5-1 win over Leicester City on February 10th, the Belgian Player created three assists—two for Agüero and one for Raheem Sterling. This increased his number of assists to 14. On February 25th, 2018, he started for Manchester City against Arsenal in the EFL Cup Final. Manchester City went on to win the game. This was their first title of the 2017–18 season and Pep Guardiola’s first trophy.

De Bruyne got the first PL Playmaker of the Season award for his 16 assists during the league season. He was also picked for the PFA Team of the Year, and Manchester City fans named him Player of the Season. De Bruyne signed a new four-year contract with Manchester City with a 30% raise on April 7th, 2020–21, after using statistics from previous seasons to negotiate his salary. Kevin won the PFA Player of the Year award for the 2020–21 season.

De Bruyne became the fourth Player in Premier League history to win the accolade, surpassing when he was named the league’s best Player for the 2021–22 season. In addition, he won the Player of the Year title at Manchester City for the fourth time. Because of this, he now shares the club record with Richard Dunne for most Player of the Year honors.
International Career with the Belgium National Team

De Bruyne established himself as a starter for the Belgium National Team. He helped them qualify for their first major event in 12 years by scoring four goals during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. De Bruyne has played for Belgium’s U-18, U-19, and U-21 teams. He debuted for the Belgian senior squad on August 11th, 2010. De Bruyne became the new captain of the Belgian national team on March 21st, 2023.

Style of play

Although De Bruyne plays as a central or attacking midfielder, he can also play in a few other positions. For example, he has been used as a winger and a second striker. In some cases, he has even been used as a lower creative midfielder, a box-to-box player, or a false
The Belgian-born Manchester City player has excellent vision, a high work rate off the ball, crossing precision, and powerful long-range shot ability with either foot.

Even though he doesn’t have a lot of physical strength, Kevin is good in the air, has a good pace, and has good dribbling skills. He knows how to take advantage of spaces in the opposition’s defense and create chances and goalscoring opportunities for himself or his teammates. In addition to being a creative player, he can score goals by making late runs from behind the ball into the penalty area and taking accurate set pieces.

Net worth

As of 2023, De Bruyne’s net worth is expected to be around $60 million.
Another question football fans ask is how much Kevin De Bruyne earns in a week.
In 2018, De Bruyne bought a £3.5 million house in the English county of Cheshire. The house has six bedrooms, a gym, a movie room, and a swimming pool.

The Manchester City player bought a lovely room in the middle of Manchester in 2015. The apartment has three bedrooms, a big living room, and a balcony with a beautiful city view.
He also owns a beautiful vacation home on Spain’s Costa Blanca. It has five bedrooms, a private pool, and a big deck with a beautiful sea view.

Personal life

Outside the field, De Bruyne loves to support charity organizations and activities. While serving as an ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages Belgium, he financially contributed to the organization’s efforts to construct a village in Dakar, located in Senegal.

The Belgian Player has spent much of his money providing special sports facilities for people with disabilities. He became an ambassador for the Special Olympics at the beginning of 2014.
KDB has been in a relationship with his long-time girlfriend, Michele Lacroix 2014, a former professional track and field female athlete from Belgium. Kevin De Bruyne got married to Michele Lacroix in June 2017. The two of them have a baby together.

De Bruyne traveled a lot as a child, so he developed an interest in learning new languages. De Bruyne is fluent in French, Dutch, English, and German.

Amazing things you didn’t know about Kevin De Bruyne

Keving has partnered with the clothing brand Cult Eleven to launch his very own pop-up clothes shop known as “KDB.” His apparel brand contributes to the Special Olympics by donating a part of its yearly profits.
When Jose Mourinho was the coach of Chelsea, he called Kevin De Bruyne a crying baby because he wanted to leave the club. Mourinho said in an interview, “I am tired of Kevin’s disturbances. If a player keeps knocking on your door, saying that he wants to leave, you have to make a decision”.

Although a Manchester City midfielder, he is also a Liverpool fan and admirer of Michael Owen.
Before making his senior national team debut for Belgium, Kevin was eligible to play for Burundi. De Bruyne’s mother comes from Burundi.

Awards and Achievements

Won the Belgian Pro League in 2010–11, the Belgian Cup in 2008–09, and the Belgian Super Cup in 2011.
De Bruyne won the DFB-Pokal in 2014–15 and the DFL-Supercup in 2015.
He has won the Premier League title four times with Manchester City: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, and 2021–22.
Won the 2018-19 FA Cup with Manchester City.
Five times winner of the Football League Cup/EFL Cup: 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21
2019 FA Community Shield winner

UEFA Champions League runner-up for the 2020–21 season
He was part of the Belgian National Team that emerged in third place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
He received the 2012-13 Bundesliga Young Player of the Year Award.
He got nominated for Bundesliga Player of the Year for the 2014–15 season.
He won the Bundesliga top assist provider award for 2014–15.
Listed in the UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season for the 2014–15 season
Won the Goal of the Month (Germany) award in October 2014 and Footballer of the Year (Germany) for 2015.got into the France Football World XI 2015

He was declared the Belgian Sportsman of the Year for 2015.
He is twice the Best Belgian Player Abroad winner: in 2015 and 2016.
Four-time winner of the Manchester City Player of the Season: 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, and 2021-22
He won the Manchester City Goal of the Season in 2019-20.
He got listed in the FIFA FIFPRO World 11 for different editions: 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Listed in the IFFHS Men’s World Team for 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022

He got named to the UEFA Team of the Year for 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Kevin was listed in the ESM Team of the Year in 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22.
He has been named to the PFA Premier League Team of the Year in four seasons: 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22.
Back-to-back Premier League Playmaker of the Season for 2017–18 and 2019–20
He entered the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season in 2017–18, 2018–19, [264] 2019–20, and 2020–21.
He was named in the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season for 2021–22.
De Bruyne was added to the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2018.

He received the Premier League Goal of the Month in November 2019 and July 2020.
Kelvin won the Premier League Player of the Season in 2019-20 and 2021-22, respectively.
He won back-to-back PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards: 2019–20 and 2020–21.
He was declared the UEFA Champions League Midfielder of the Season for 2019-20
He is a Two-time winner of the IFFHS World’s Best Playmaker: 2020 and 2021
He was enlisted in the IFFHS UEFA Team of the Decade for 2011–2020 and the IFFHS All-Time Belgium XI.
Ballon d’Or 3rd Place Award in 2022