Kevin De Bruyne

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Kevin De Bruyne
0Full Name	Kevin De Bruyne
0Date of Birth	28 June 1991
0Place of Birth	Drongen, Belgium
0Position	Midfielder Winger
0Chelsea career	2012 - 2014
0Debut	18 August 2013
0Games (goals)	9 (0)
0Other clubs	Racing Genk Werder Bremen (loan) Wolfsburg

Kevin De Bruyne (born 28 June 1991 in Drongen, Belgium) is a Belgian international midfielder who was a Chelsea player for two years between 2012 and 2014. He signed for Chelsea in January 2012, before being immediately loaned back to former club Racing Genk for the remainder of the 2011-12 season. He spent the 2012-13 season on loan at Werder Bremen, where he impressed, before joining the Chelsea squad ahead of the 2013-14 season. He failed to break into the side and was sold to Wolfsburg in January 2014.

Contents 1 Before Chelsea 2 Chelsea career 3 International 4 Statistics

Before Chelsea

De Bruyne was born in Drongen, on the outskirts of Ghent, and joined local side Gent in 2003. He moved to Racing Genk two years later and made his debut in a 3-0 defeat at Charleroi in May 2009, at the age of 18. Despite his young age, De Bruyne established himself in the Genk first team, helping his side to the Belgian championship in the 2011-11 season with five goals and 16 assists. His form continued the following season, the winger scoring a hat-trick against Club Brugge in a 5-4 win. He also appeared for his club in the UEFA Champions League, lining up against Chelsea, with whom he had been linked since the previous season, in the group stage.

On 30 January 2012 it was widely reported that De Bruyne was in London completing a medical ahead of a move to Chelsea. The following day Genk confirmed that the Belgian international had signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with the Blues, and would be loaned back for the remainder of the season. The fee was reported to be in the region of £6.7m. [1]

Chelsea career

De Bruyne joined up with the Chelsea squad for 2012-13 pre-season, and was involved in the club's tour of the USA. However he joined German side Werder Bremen on a season-long loan prior to the start of the season. De Bruyne's season at Werder Bremen was highly successful personally; the young Belgian was a regular starter and scored 10 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions, also providing 10 assists for what was a relegation-threatened side.

Ahead of the 2013-14 season returning Chelsea manager José Mourinho assured De Bruyne that he was part of his plans for the forthcoming season. [2] The young midfielder was one of the stand-out players for Chelsea in pre-season, though his participation in the Asian Tour was cut short after he sustained an injury while scoring a spectacular goal against a Malaysian XI. De Bruyne was rewarded for his displays in pre-season with a starting berth in the opening match of 2013-14, a 2-0 win against Hull City in which he set up Oscar for the first goal of the campaign.

De Bruyne's early season form was enough to earn him a place in the starting line-up in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United, but he generally found himself named on the substitute bench during the opening weeks of the season. Mourinho was reported to be furious with his poor display in his next start; a League Cup match against Swindon Town, [3] and he didn't feature at all until the next round of the competition one month later; a 2-0 win against Arsenal. Occasional appearances followed, but it had become clear that he did not feature prominently in Mourinho's immediate plans. A move in January appeared increasingly likely, either on loan or permanent, especially with De Bruyne's natural desire for regular first team football in order to be selected Belgium's 2014 World Cup squad.

Although the ever-demanding Mourinho had hinted that he wasn't always entirely happy with the young Belgian's attitude and application, [4] De Bruyne was somewhat unfortunate with regard to the depth of competition in attacking midfield at the club by the time he joined up with the squad after 18 months on loan. Chelsea signed him from Genk in January 2012, when Juan Mata was shouldering the majority of the creative burden for a side that was struggling in the league, and attacking midfield was an area of the squad in need of strengthening. Chelsea's UEFA Champions League victory four months later gave the club renewed impetus and appeal in the transfer market, and a large amount of money was invested in high-quality players in his position over the following two summer transfer windows. The result was that by the time he joined up with his parent club he found himself in competition for a starting place with Eden Hazard, Oscar and André Schürrle in addition to Mata, with Willian soon to follow. Having failed to break into the first team on 18 January 2014 he was sold to Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for an undisclosed fee reportedly in the region of €20m (£16.5m), around £10m more than the Blues had paid for him 2 years earlier. [5]

International

De Bruyne made 9 appearances at Under-19 level for Belgium, scoring once. He made his senior debut not long after turning 19, in an international friendly against Finland. At the time he signed for Chelsea he had made one further appearance for the senior national side.

Statistics

Season	Prem		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2013-14	3	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	9	0
Total	3	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	9	0