Kevin de Bruyne goes beyond Man City legend and deserves Ballon D'Or recognition

After enduring a slow start to the season — by his standards — Kevin de Bruyne is arguably now in the best form of his Manchester City career.

Over the past few months he has blended multiple different styles and traits to become what must be close to the perfect midfielder. He is the lock-picker, the deep-lying quarterback, the surging box-to-box engine and the clinical finisher, all rolled into one.

Over his City career De Bruyne has, at one time or another, been all of these things. But never all at the same time. It's hard to think of many other players in world football who have such an influence on their team's fortunes. If De Bruyne plays well, City play well. If he doesn't, which is rare, then City have a problem. That's no criticism of City — he is just that good.

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City fans aren't the only ones keen to lavish praise on the Belgian maestro. Among opposition supporters and pundits, De Bruyne is regarded as one of, if not the, best player in the Premier League. Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany became the first former City players to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame this week, a fitting recognition of two footballing greats.

Both are City legends without whom the club would not have achieved the level of success it has over the past decade. City fans adore them for an infinite number of reasons, but neither prompted the "ooohhs" and "ahhhs" of neutrals, and even rivals, quite like De Bruyne does.

So that begs the question: where does De Bruyne stand among the greatest midfielders in football history? Even at just 30 years old, the answer is surely 'pretty highly'.

When comparing footballers of different