Kevin de Bruyne
A fee to buy De Bruyne from Genk was agreed almost 18 months ago, but he spent the remainder of the season with the Belgian club before officially joining Chelsea when the summer window opened. There were strong rumors of a loan move to Germany from the moment he signed with Chelsea, and sure enough, he was sent to Werder Bremen on a season long loan. A person as talented as he was, plus the void left by Marko Marin meant that he started almost every game from Bremen in a variety of positions and never ceased to impress. Also, he looks like Tintin, so I love him a lot.
De Bruyne was used as a striker, #10, left wing, and right wing before eventually slotting into a central pair playing just behind the center forward. In some games, he was even played in the Xabi Alonso role. De Bruyne has shown Bundesliga followers some tremendous skill with the ball at his feet. He is not frequently dispossesed despite every attack building through him. He too, like Oscar, is an exceptional passes and can play every kind of pass, making it look easy. He can play Alonso-esque long balls with ease. Also, he is a setpiece virtuoso. One can blindly trust him to take a good corner kick or free kick and he won’t disappoint. Also features a Lampard-like shot.
All those foresaid reasons are the main cause for him being labelled a Lampard replacement. And I’m pretty sure he won’t disappoint. Wanna see what the stats say?
His stats do look good and reflect all the praise I’ve showered on him so far. However, my only concern regarding him is his tackling, and subsequent fouling. He’s a terrible tackler at this point, committing fouls or coming up empty on over 3/4 of his attempts to dispossess an opponent. He does seem to realize that he’s just very poor in this regard, and doesn’t attempt to tackle very often because of it. Hopefully, these are the things that improve with maturity and time.
Quick Navigation
Oscar | Kevin de Bruyne | Marco Van Ginkel | Josh McEachran | Nathaniel Chalobah
