Does Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne perform his task for Belgium? | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne recently hit out at his Belgium teammates.

The Manchester City midfielder captained Belgium during the September international break. The Red Devils opened with a 3-1 win over Israel before losing 2-0 against France.

In their past four games, Belgium have managed just one win, dropping to sixth in the world rankings. It was believed that Euro 2024 was the last chance of Belgium’s golden generation, but they bowed out in the last 16 to France.

After the latest defeat to France, De Bruyne didn’t mince his words.

“I cannot repeat that in the media but it has to be better in every way,” said the 33-year-old.

“If the standard we want to reach is the best, but we’re no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything.

“If you don’t even do that, it’s over.”

He added: “If you stay with six at the back, there is no connection. It is what it is.

“It is not about transition, but about people who do not perform their tasks.”

And, De Bruyne reportedly told Belgium technical director Frank Vercauteren on the sidelines: “I quit.”

The question is, does De Bruyne perform his task for Belgium, particularly at major tournaments?

De Bruyne has played 26 times at major tournaments for Belgium, 13 at European Championships and 13 at World Cups. In those 26 matches, De Bruyne has nine assists, split across five at European Championships and four at World Cups.

But, perhaps crucially for De Bruyne’s recent revelation, he did not provide an assist at the 2022 World Cup or Euro 2024 — scoring just one goal in Germany this summer.

Looking deeper at Euro 2024, De Bruyne’s failure to record an assist wasn’t necessarily his fault. He created 12 chances across four matches in total, at an average of 3 per 90 minutes. De Bruyne also created 0.5 big chances per 90 minutes, and posted an xA of 0.22 per 90.

The Belgian sat top for through balls with seven, three more than any other player, despite his tournament ending at the round of 16.

Already this season, De Bruyne has bettered his assist tally from Euro 2024, setting up Erling Haaland’s second in Man City’s win over Ipswich. Of course, having as striker like Haaland is definitely beneficial for De Bruyne’s assist numbers.

But De Bruyne has still been more creative for Man City this season. He averages 3.71 chances created per 90 minutes, with 11 in total. De Bruyne has also created more big chances per 90 at 1.01 in the Premier League this season, with an xA of 0.54.

These are both drops from his averages in 2023/24, when the Belgian was in fantastic form going into Euro 2024 after injury. In the Premier League in 2023/24, De Bruyne created 4.33 chances per 90 minutes and 1.54 chances per 90. There has been a slight rise in his xA of 0.52 from 2023/24.

Of course, for Man City, De Bruyne is on the ball a lot more. This season he has attempted 75.51 passes per 90 minutes, 25.51 more than he did for Belgium at Euro 2024. He’s also averaged 98.76 touches per 90, compared to 71.5 per 90 at Euro 2024.

But when you look at the goalscoring aspect of his game, De Bruyne did have a slightly better time at Euro 2024.

De Bruyne took fewer shots at Euro 2024 per 90 (2.75) than he has in the Premier League this season (4.04), but he was more effective with 1.25 shots on target per 90 to 1.01. Looking at accuracy, De Bruyne hit the target with 45.45% of his shots at Euro 2024, whereas so far this season his accuracy is 25% in the Premier League.