Medical expert issues ‘massive’ Kevin De Bruyne verdict after official Man City reveal today
Kevin De Bruyne is finally playing “pain-free” – and that is a “massive” boost for Man City.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
De Bruyne has today (3 February) been named as City’s Etihad Player of the Month after registering three assists and two goals in five games in January.
The news came after the 30-year-old told CityTV last Tuesday (25 January) that he is “happy and playing pain-free”.
The Belgian creator has confessed his regret at taking pain-killing injections to treat an ankle problem earlier this year and has also suffered with Covid.
Dinnery insists that it is no surprise to see a correlation between De Bruyne’s physical wellbeing and his performance levels.
“This has been reflected in his performance metrics recently,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“In his last six games, he has created 20 chances for his teammates and directly contributed to six goals.
“His status in that City team cannot be understated. On his day, he will go down as one of the greatest players in the Premier League.
“Even in a team full of stars, he is still one of the standouts. Going back a few years, he was undroppable in that Pep roulette team.
“In maybe the last 12 months, he hasn’t been as nailed-on as he once was.
“But the performances we’ve seen in different times make him one of the names you can guarantee in the first XI.
“He is a player who can win a match in the blink of an eye. It will be liberating to reach that pain-free status and a massive positive for City.”
De Bruyne also won City’s Goal of the Month competition for his piledriver against Chelsea on 15 January.
The strike was his seventh goal of the campaign, and he has also registered four assists.
In other news, Man City chiefs admit to £210million Jack Grealish blunder.