A relentless treadmill of games and injuries has taken its toll on a player who looked to have the world at his feet six months ago
A couple of weeks ago, Kevin De Bruyne and Oleksandr Zinchenko were filming a video for the Manchester City YouTube channel in which they answered questions put to them by fans. Someone called Hesham from Egypt asked who they thought would be the best player in the world in 2030. “I will be retired,” whispered De Bruyne. “No, you already gone,” retorted Zinchenko. “Finished. You are 30 already. You finished.”
Not a bad gag, as footballer gags go. And yet in this slice of harmless male banter there was a vaguely poignant note, a recognition that even within the City dressing room De Bruyne is increasingly seen as an elder statesman, that he has already reached the point in his career when you start counting the years down instead of up.
