Four senior clubs by the age of twenty-two doesn't sound very convincing or appealing when talking about a promising prospect but I'll leave you to be the judge. Born in Drongen, Belgium in 1991, De Bruyne' footballing career began at local side KVV Drongen when he was just six years old, this would be De Bruyne' first club of the current seven he has represented either at junior or senior levels. A move to Gent followed in 2005 for a fourteen year old De Bruyne and within the same year De Bruyne moved on to Belgian giants Genk who he would represent at youth level until his performances caught the eye of the first team coach, De Bruyne was promoted to the side at just seventeen and made the first of what would be a total of eighty-four appearances at the end of the 2009 season in a defeat to Charleroi. The following season De Bruyne became an established first time player, albeit still only at the tender age of eighteen and he finished the 2010/11 season with a rather impressive five goals and sixteen assists, playing an important role in Genk becoming champions that season. For a further two seasons, De Bruyne played in his preferred central attacking midfield role for Genk before catching the eyes of Premier League side Chelsea, after four successful seasons in the Genk side that won the; Belgian Pro League, Belgian Cup and Belgian Supercup during De Bruyne's time in the senior team.

On deadline day of January 2012, De Bruyne left for Chelsea with a five and a half year deal being signed with the London based side for seven million euros. De Bruyne spent the remainder of the 2011-12 season at Genk, before linking up with his Chelsea teammates in the summer. 

De Bruyne linked up with his teammates and got his first run out during the clubs US tour against Seattle Sounders in a 4-2 Chelsea victory. De Bruyne was loaned out to Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen for the 2012-2013 season, and appeared no less than thirty-three times, scoring ten goals. De Bruyne' goal on the penultimate day of the season secured Werder a place in the competition after a poor season compared to what the fans had seen in the not so distant past. He was awarded Bundesliga Young Player of the year and deservedly so beating a certain Julian Draxler to the award, for a stand-out campaign. His consistently brilliant performances at Werder Bremen, being the shining light in a bleak side, sent signals across Europe as to the ability and potential the Belgian possesses.

De Bruyne returned to Stamford Bridge after completing his loan spell, with rumours of interest from Bundesliga giants in Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen circling round the footballing world. De Bruyne was strongly linked to be wanted by Leverkusen as a makeweight for the outgoing Andre Schürrle, although it failed to materialise. De Bruyne found opportunities limited in the blue shirt, making just three appearances in total despite a promising pre-season. 

Another January came around and De Bruyne was on the move again. This time to Lower Saxony club VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.Wolfsburg, who had just lost Brazilian playmaker Diego Ribas to Atletico Madrid and for eighteen million pounds, De Bruyne' miserable spell at Chelsea was over. He made his debut the following week after signing in a 3-1 home loss to Hannover.

De Bruyne has went on and since made a further twelve appearances for "Die Wolfe" putting in a great shift on many occasions. His best performance to date came recently against relegation threatened FC Nurnberg, in which he provided two goals for team mates in what turned into a 4-1 rout. Despite ten goals in his first tenure in the Bundesliga, De Bruyne has struggled to pick up a similar stat managing just one goal so far coming in Matchday 31 in the clubs fixture against Hamburg. He has however assisted peers six times since his January arrival.

His strong passing ability has allowed him to complete 75% of his passes. Other strengths lie in his crossing ability, costless kick delivery and his dribbling. However, De Bruyne is practically useless when defending contributing a lot less than he does up the other end of the field, his tackling is poor too with him averaging just a tackle a game which often results in a foul being giving against the young Belgian attacker.

De Bruyne has been capped at all levels from under-eighteen level for native Belgium and finds himself in a very good position to be on the plane to rio, in fact it's almost inevitable the exciting baby faced assassin will be on the plane. His ability to pinpoint passes of all distances will come in rather handy with Belgium having a large striker in Romelu Lukaku who'll be able to latch on to De Bruyne's long balls.

A huge prospect for the future and despite being somewhat of a Chelsea "reject" the future still looks very bright for the twenty-two year old and it is highly unlikely Wolfsburg will be the last teams colours De Bruyne wears.

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About the author
Cammy Anderson
Calcio-editor-in-chief Email: [email protected]