Manchester City: Pep Guardiola turns Kevin de Bruyne into a star

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Manchester City are often accused of simply trying to buy success, so is it time we gave their manager Pep Guardiola some credit for improving his big-name players too? Kevin de Bruyne, who has gone from a goal-grabbing attacker into someone Guardiola described this month as being a "complete player," appears to be a prime example of a top talent he has enhanced further.In assists alone, De Bruyne's statistics in his new, often deeper role speak for themselves, but they have come in tandem with some rave reviews from observers about his overall influence on matches, not merely in the final third of the field.

It seems he has become the kind of player Guardiola has always wanted to control his midfield, going back to his days in charge of Barcelona, when he nurtured several of them.

But while the Belgian's recent stellar form has seen him make the headlines, the evidence suggests he is not the only world-class City player their Spanish coach has taken to a new level.

'Guardiola takes good players, and makes them great'

De Bruyne's admirers include Guardiola himself, with the former Bayern Munich manager stating last week that the 26-year-old is "one of the best players I have ever seen".
You could argue De Bruyne should be that, given he cost City £55m in 2015 - at the time the second-highest fee paid by a British club, and still a club record despite their summer spree in an even more acutely inflated transfer market.De Bruyne was clearly no slouch before Guardiola got his hands on him and the former Chelsea player also possessed the attitude and ability to adapt his game.
But his manager has played a part in that process - and has helped others to make similar progress.

"I 100% think De Bruyne has become a better player under Guardiola," says Pat Nevin, who was at Vicarage Road for BBC Radio 5 live on Saturday and saw City destroy Watford 6-0.
"But he is not the only one that has improved a lot in this City team. I look at Raheem Sterling and think he is monumentally better now than he was before. Sergio Aguero has clearly added to his game under Pep too."So whereas everyone else is talking about individuals, I am looking at Guardiola and thinking I love your system, I love your attitude and I love your ethos - in the way you are taking very good players, and you are changing them to make them great.
"That is quite unusual, because a lot of managers would think I have got a really good player who does a certain thing very well, so I will just let him play."You can tell that is not good enough for Guardiola, though. The way he has worked with those three players is pure Pep, really."

Compared to last season, not an awful lot has changed for De Bruyne.
In his first year at the Etihad Stadium, under previous manager Manuel Pellegrini, De Bruyne was typically one of the three players operating behind striker Sergio Aguero in a 4-2-3-1 formation, either out wide or as the number 10, but that changed when Guardiola took charge in the summer of 2016.The former Genk starlet began the 2016-17 campaign operating in a deeper role, usually as part of a 4-1-4-1 formation that - much as he does now - saw him help out City's holding midfielder when his team did not have the ball, but also act as a springboard for launching attacks when they won it back.But Nevin points out that De Bruyne does not just have one position in this City team - and neither do his fellow midfielders.
"It really is not that simple with Pep," Nevin explained. "It is a much more holistic thing he is building."De Bruyne played on the right of midfield against Watford but, in their previous league game against Liverpool, he did a lot of work across the pitch. Against Bournemouth at the end of August he was mainly on the left. Who knows where he will play next week.

De Bruyne has had three different positions in City's last three Premier League games, all in midfield. He made 109 touches in 90 minutes in City's 2-1 win at Bournemouth (left-hand graphic), mainly operating on the left. He had a roaming role in City's 5-0 victory against Liverpool's 10 men (centre graphic, with 74 touches and one assist) but mostly stayed on the right when they thrashed Watford 6-0 (right-hand graphic, 87 touches and two assists)

"I think that is what Guardiola has been trying to do with him, and the rest of City's midfield too.
"If you can play, you can play anywhere in his teams. If you look at his Barcelona side, Xavi and Andres Iniesta were not on the right or left, they were just players.
"It is the same at City now too. If you asked David Silva, I don't think he would care where he is asked to play. De Bruyne and Sterling won't either."