Kevin De Bruyne claims two assists were taken away from him, and that in his mind he had already beaten Thierry Henry’s Premier League record for most in a season.
Belgium playmaker De Bruyne was in masterful form as Manchester City hammered relegated Norwich City 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium, scoring two fine goals and setting up Raheem Sterling for another.
His part for Sterling’s effort, City’s third in their final game of the domestic season, was his 20th top-flight assist of the season, putting him level with Henry’s benchmark for Arsenal in the 2002-03 campaign.
However, De Bruyne – perhaps tongue in cheek – feels a little short-changed, believing there were two other occasions he should have been given an assist.
The attacking midfielder put in a cross for Sterling to score against Arsenal in December that took a slight deflection, and also provided a throughball for the England international that hit David Luiz on the thigh against the same opponents in June.
“I have got two more – you guys took two away from me that I am still claiming so for me I was already above [Henry],” De Bruyne said about levelling the benchmark of a man who was his former assistant coach with Belgium.
“It is what it is. I need my teammates, 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.”
De Bruyne is renowned as perhaps the Premier League’s most consistent provider and had already gone close on several occasions to equalling the famed French striker. The midfielder recorded 18 assists in the 2016-17 season, and also managed 16 the following year – and also raced to 20 for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga back in 2014-15.
In total, he boasts 66 assists in the English top flight, as well as netting 36 goals from midfield for Pep Guardiola’s charges.
City have also repeated their status as the division’s deadliest outfit in front of goal by outscoring Premier League champions Liverpool by 17 goals, netting 102 to their 85. No fewer than 33 of those had De Bruyne’s mark on them, as the Belgian chipped in with 13 strikes as well as his 20 assists.