Kevin De Bruyne has never been very good at concealing his emotions, which has been an issue this season. The Manchester City playmaker is a heart-on-the-sleeve player but so far this season frustration has been his overwhelming feeling.
He has bubbled away for the Blues without ever quite hitting top form in the first 22 games of a disrupted campaign. Even when he's looked like returning to his best there have been rebukes from Pep Guardiola, who has said on a couple of occasions that De Bruyne can do more. Of that, there is no doubt.
If the World Cup was supposed to provide a sanctuary, a chance to reset, then it all went badly wrong. Belgium crashed out in the group stage and De Bruyne was at the heart of an acrimonious split in the group, with his interview that appeared between group stage games casting the squad as "too old" to win the tournament proving prophetic, but also disappointing to teammates.
