There are few footballers in the world who have the ability to render spectators speechless on a regular basis.
Lionel Messi is of course the master, although the likes of Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe are no strangers to taking the breath away. There are players like Erling Haaland who amaze supporters as brutal forces of nature, not intricate, balletic technicians but equally as devastating.
In-between the two groups sits Kevin de Bruyne, a technical maestro but a supreme athlete all the same. The Manchester City midfielder has constantly evolved his game since arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2015, to the extent that he can legitimately claim to be the best practitioner of the most complex position on the pitch.
