After the Belgian’s superb performance against Leicester on Saturday, it is no wonder that his name is splashed across the back pages with praise.
Firstly, we hear from the man himself.
During an interview with the Manchester Evening News, the midfielder insisted that his focus remained on winning titles with City and stated that any individual awards were just a bonus.
“I do everything to win titles with the team,” he said. “What happens after is an extra.
“I am very pleased with the way everything is going for me. I am playing this way because the team is playing this way.
“It makes it easier for me, it makes it easier for them. At the end, if you get an individual honour it is beautiful,” he added.
Stuart Brennan wrote in his MEN article: “Only three things possibly stand between De Bruyne and glory this season – a dramatic loss of form, burn-out, or injury, the latter a problem with opposition players clearly targeting him.”
The next story featuring the Belgian highlighted that De Bruyne has the most assists in Europe since 2012 - topping Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Chris Wheeler of the Daily Mail writes: “Having done his best to steal the show from Sergio Aguero, it was no surprise that Kevin De Bruyne also tried to steal the match ball from his team-mate at the end of another ruthless display by Manchester City.
“As supporting roles go, it was just one more masterclass from the mercurial Belgian who has lit up this Premier League season more than any other.
“Aguero’s four goals trumped De Bruyne’s three assists, no doubt about it, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the midfielder’s latest achievement or remarkable levels of consistency.
“Since making his debut for Werder Bremen on loan from Chelsea in the summer of 2012, De Bruyne has completed a total of 77 assists — more than any player in Europe’s top five leagues, including Lionel Messi on 76.”
As expected De Bruyne was named in a number of Premier League Team of the Week articles, but we are taking a closer look at Garth Crooks’ choice for the BBC as he names two City stars.
Obviously, Crooks selects KDB, and writes: “Three assists simply don’t tell the whole story of Kevin de Bruyne’s contribution for Manchester City against Leicester.
“Every generation is blessed with one midfield genius, and De Bruyne is one of the main reasons City already have one hand on the Premier League title.
“The quality of his passes into the penalty area for Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero were quite frightening. Well, Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel found all of them terrifying.”
And finally, he names Saturday’s star man: Sergio Aguero (of course!).
“If this man does not win Footballer of the Year then there is something very wrong with the way we reward our best players.
“Granted we have De Bruyne to consider, and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, and of course Kane will feature in the final line-up. But none of the aforementioned have been as consistent over the past five years as Sergio Aguero.
“To think the Argentine’s exploits in the Premier League have never been officially recognised either by his fellow players or the football writers.
“Whenever there are debates about genuine world-class strikers in the Premier League, the one name that is undisputed is Aguero. And it’s about time the game acknowledged it.”
That’s all for today’s media round-up, but we will be back tomorrow with more headlines from the back pages before our return to Champions League action!
