Kevin de Bruyne's form has improved markedly in recent weeks. With the play-maker living up to his potential, Dieter Hecking and Klaus Allofs spoke to kicker about de Bruyne's new lease of life.
"Not only has he had to take responsibility for an 85-meter sprint against Hamburg, he's also been more vocal." said coach Hecking, who has praised the 23-year-old's new found sense of dependability and responsibility. "Kevin has said himself that he is a 'winning-type'. And he should pass this winning mentality onto his fellow players. He has developed positively in recent weeks, not only on the pitch, but inside the dressing room."
After some stellar performances before the international break, in both Europe and the Bundesliga, de Bruyne has shown everyone what all 'that fuss' was about when Chelsea bought him back in 2012.
Even though he's only scored one domestic goal, he has a staggering nine assists to his name, meaning he leads the Bundesliga scoring point table with ten. In the Europa League, it's a similar story; three further goals and another two assists, including a magical strike against Lille, illustrated what the Belgian is all about.
"In Bremen he was on loan. For him and all involved, it was clear that it wouldn't last that long. Back then, he had came from Chelsea at the last moment, he had no preparation and Werder left again after a while," commented Allofs. The sporting director trumped many of Europe's top clubs to sign de Bruyne, "There were so many of our arguments to say, 'the Wolves are the right club for you'."
Allofs went on to say, "He is our player, he knows that we rely on him and he sees his future at VfL. All this, his natural maturation process and the fact he feels at home here, plays a major role." If de Bruyne continues this form, there is no reason why he can't be the catalyst for a crack at Bayern's current dominance.
Of course it'll be a team effort, but the Belgian play-maker has the ability to claw back an otherwise lost game. A trip to the Veltins Arena awaits on Saturday afternoon and will surely give a great indication to whether the Wolves can maintain their form until the Winter break.