Since his arrival at Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne has been one of the greatest creative players in Premier League history.
Now he has a record to prove it.
On the final day of the season, the Belgium midfielder equalled Thierry Henry's record for the most assists in a single Premier League campaign when he claimed his 20th of the season in City's 5-0 victory over Norwich.
To underline his outstanding quality he also happened to score two spectacular strikes from the edge of the box against the Canaries as Pep Guardiola's side rounded out their league season in style.
De Bruyne is now the league's master creator. In just three years of the Premier League's 'Playmaker of the Season' award, De Bruyne has won the prize twice having also claiming it in City’s 100-points campaign when he registered 18 assists in 2017-18.
That came after the 29-year-old had already proven his quality in Germany when he set the Bundesliga assists record when he was with Wolfsburg.
Despite that, there were some that doubted that he could repeat the trick in England after being dumped by Jose Mourinho having barely made an impact at Chelsea.
He has emphatically proven them wrong since joining City from 2015, with his extraordinary ability to pick out team-mates with killer passes that many others would not even consider attempting.
Guardiola has no doubts about his qualities, and knows that De Bruyne must take his current form into their Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid if his side are to have any chance of claiming their first ever European Cup.
“He made one assist but could have broken it [the record] easily," the City boss said on Sunday. "Instead he’ll share with Henry and he played really well. The two goals – I like that from Kevin. He has the assists but we need his goals too.”
De Bruyne has been relentless all season. In a campaign dominated by Liverpool, he has been directly involved in 33 goals - more than any other player in the Premier League.
It would have been just if he had claimed the record outright. Some will argue after it appeared the ball that found Riyad Mahrez for City's fourth against Norwich came via a touch from De Bruyne, meaning he really should have had assist number 21.
De Bruyne has always maintained he was relaxed about it potentially beating Henry's record from 2002-03, focusing more on the team’s achievements.
But, as a winner, he is also fully aware that it is not the first time he’s had an assist taken away from him.
The first goal City scored after lockdown came from his pass to Raheem Sterling, though the ball flicked off David Luiz on its way and so was not counted.
"I have got two more – you guys took two away from me that I am still claiming so for me I was already above (Thierry),” he said following the Norwich victory .
"It is what it is. I need my team-mates, obviously I am creating for them to score, and I am grateful when they do. It is nice to have [the record] and it is nice to have it with Thierry."
While Henry was the one of the Premier League's all-time leading forwards, De Bruyne has made his name as an untouchable creative force from midfielder.
In this season alone he has, according to Opta , created 136 chances – 45 more than his nearest rival, Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish. From open play it is 104 opportunities – 29 more than second-placed Grealish.
In terms of "big" chances created, De Bruyne has 33 to his name - 15 more than nearest rivals Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mahrez. His expected assists (xA) - the sum of expected goals of shots from a player’s key passes - is 20.62 , which is than more than third and fourth-placed Mahrez and Mohammed Salah combined.
Even on the final day of the season, and with second-place in the table guaranteed for City, he was still the most creative player in the Premier League with 10 chances made for team-mates. No other player in the league created more than four opportunities.
Henry, who coached De Bruyne during his time on Belgium's backroom staff, is secured of his place as a Premier League legend, and has recognised another potential all-time great playing at the top of his game.
“He’s an amazing player, it’s just stupid what we are witnessing and I hope people in football do realise that the boy is just not normal,” the former Arsenal striker said in May.
Few can disagree with his assessment.
