Kevin De Bruyne’s last twelve months have not gone as planned. Few players of his stature are accustomed to uncertainty. Yet the past year has presented one of the greatest footballers of his generation with challenges he could scarcely have anticipated.
The former Manchester City’s Midfield conductor’s debut season at Napoli was cut short in October by a hamstring injury and only made a return in March, trying to build his fitness leading into the World Cup in North America.
Couple that with the fact that Rudi Garcia named Youri Tielemans as the new permanent Belgium captain in September because “he has a strong relationship with everyone in the squad.” He only took over the armband from Eden Hazard in March 2023 after his international retirement.
But he still considers himself elite and he is still Kevin De Bruyne. He is still capable of unimaginable moments on the football pitch, even though they are now few and far between. The Belgium talisman expects to have the impact that has come to be expected of one of his generation’s best players.
This is his fourth and most likely final appearance in the Mundial after playing in the last three editions. At 34 years old, and especially after some serious hamstring injuries, the dynamism that has always accompanied his best moments appears to have faded these days.
Prior to his injury, he was dropping deep to get on the ball and drive up the pitch, but since then, he has stayed higher, attempting those creative passes in the final third for which he is perhaps best known.
De Bruyne left Manchester City at the end of the 2024/25, joining Serie A champions Napoli on a free, motivated in part by a desire to prove City wrong, believing he still possessed the ability to earn a new contract and compete at the highest level under Pep Guardiola.
He had serious offers from Major League Soccer, and while some in his circle urged him to make the move and become a star in the United States, De Bruyne felt, and continues to believe, that he is a Champions League-level player. De Bruyne is part of Belgium’s much heralded “golden generation” that peaked in 2018 winning bronze at the World Cup in Russia.
He, along with Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku are the last members of that era still in the Belgium squad. You get the feeling that they would have loved to crown that era with a trophy, maybe a European Championship, but they always came up short.
Now, moving away from that team, the current team is not as exciting, though with some young exciting prospects like Jeremy Doku, Matias Fernandez-Pardo and Mika Godts, who shockingly failed to make the squad after an impressive season at Ajax.
De Bruyne is still a key player for his country and a lot will be expected of him in this World Cup.
He is definitely not taking it for granted. “It’s an honor for me to still be here after playing for the national team for about 16 years. So, that means I’ve done something good,” De Bruyne said in the press conference before Belgium’s 1-1 opening draw against Egypt. “Hopefully I can play a good tournament and do something well for Belgium.”
Even with the biggest determination, this World Cup is unlikely to be won by Kevin De Bruyne alone. He would have to lean on the younger lads to deliver alongside him.Yet Belgium will still look to the man who has carried their hopes for more than a decade.
Time may have diminished some of the explosive energy that once defined his game, but it has not touched the qualities that made him exceptional: intelligence, vision, courage, and the ability to create moments others cannot imagine.The World Cup has a habit of producing unforgettable final acts. Kevin De Bruyne will hope there is still one left in him.
