There is a feverish excitement around Kevin De Bruyne’s return from injury.
There was almost as much noise generated inside the Etihad Stadium last weekend when the Belgian ran down the touchline to warm up as there was for the two goals City scored against Sheffield United.
And as Jurgen Klopp put it when discussing the title race 48 hours later: “Kevin De Bruyne is warming up, the whole country is starting to shake.”
On Sunday — against Huddersfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup — he finally returned to the pitch, 149 days after a serious hamstring injury that required surgery. There was a similarly enthusiastic reception when he warmed up just after half-time and, when his ‘No 17’ was put up on the fourth official’s board just before the hour mark, his name rang around the stadium.
“I am pretty sure Kevin felt the last game it happened, and today again, how the people are in love with him,” Pep Guardiola said after the match. “It will be eternal. This mutual respect will last forever.”
De Bruyne comes on against Huddersfield (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
On the pitch it was normal service resumed: Ruben Dias handed over the captain’s armband as soon as De Bruyne strode onto the turf and a little over 15 minutes later, he floated a cross back from the byline for Jeremy Doku to score, rounding off City’s 5-0 victory.
Kevin De Bruyne needed less than 20 minutes to get the creative juices flowing.
The Belgian’s clever ball finds Jeremy Doku, who scores on his return from injury — Manchester City lead 5-0.#MCFC | #FACup
📼 @EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/XZZGy0Q9gW
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 7, 2024
Everything in its place.
It is easy to look ahead to what De Bruyne can do for the rest of City’s season. Before the Huddersfield game, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sunday afternoon sports show discussed how his return will pan out and whether he can solve some of the relative problems Guardiola’s team have had this season.
It is completely normal to focus on what impact one of the best players in Premier League history can make and it is normal to wonder about the other side of the coin, whether the 32-year-old will be able to contribute in the same way that has always made him stand out from the crowd.
Maybe he plays a bit deeper? Maybe his role out of possession has to change?
But we are all in danger of getting too far ahead of ourselves, at least for now, as Guardiola highlighted well on Friday. When asked about De Bruyne’s role on the pitch post-injury, he instead explained just how patient City need to be with him, why he might not play quite as much as expected in coming weeks, and even shed light on the psychology of players returning from a long lay-off.
“I understand the intention of the question for the injury, but I would love him to play the way he played the last eight years with me,” he said. “I would love it. I think he’s not going to change his qualities, they are there.
“Of course, it was a big injury, what concerns me the most is to try to avoid a repeat. This is what we have to be careful with, with his minutes at first. There is enthusiasm in the first minutes. ‘Wow, I’m going to play, I want to play today’, but you have to be careful with that.
“I have to speak with him but especially with his doctors, physios and the guys who know what the minutes should be and the best processes. What Kevin needs, what every player with long injuries needs, is to accumulate weeks of training and minutes.
“A setback would be the worst for Kevin, Jeremy (Doku), Erling (Haaland). If he can train four or five or six training sessions in a row, play minutes in a game, then after that another four, five training sessions, minutes again, one day 90 minutes, another 15, train good in Abu Dhabi. That is the best that can happen right now for Kevin.”
It helps to explain why, for example, John Stones made his return from injury against Aston Villa, only played 20 minutes in the league at Luton after that, then 90 minutes in a dead rubber against Red Star Belgrade, then only the final minutes in another league game against Crystal Palace.
De Bruyne, for his part, said the following after the game: “It was a big surgery. I worked hard and I am happy to be back. I felt good, so I am pleased about that but I am still nowhere near where I need to be.
“I feel fine, but there will be moments. At the beginning when I was training I was getting tired, but the last few weeks have been fine.”
These things take time and Guardiola returned to that theme as soon as he was asked about his return on Sunday afternoon.
“He played really good minutes, we thought it was better to play the second half than the first when it was tighter, they defend so deep, so, so deep, we had to break the game,” he explained.
“Second half there were more spaces. Now it’s what I said before: he needs to accumulate training sessions, training sessions, training sessions — more than games. I still don’t think he is ready for 90 minutes, but against Newcastle, he has another chance, then he has two weeks to make good training here and in Abu Dhabi and then to the second part of the season.”
Of course, De Bruyne’s full return will be a huge boost to City and if all goes to plan, that should not be too far off, but as far as the rest of January goes, there is clearly still a big focus on ensuring he comes through unscathed.
There was more on that from Guardiola on Friday when asked what the risks are following a serious muscle injury: “(He needs to be) strong in the muscle, flexible. It is a question of accumulating time in the training sessions, more important than 90 minutes, 80 minutes, 90 minutes. Do it right, if not, he is going to get injured again.
“Even how he is feeling, how he recovers from a big action. It’s been a long time, three months (out). He is so fresh and has so much desire, but we have to be careful.”
De Bruyne on the ball against Huddersfield (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
As much as his assist was a good sign on Sunday, so was the simple fact that he did not suffer any other injury. After all, he got the one at Burnley in August after he had recovered, or so everybody thought, from the hamstring rupture that took him out of the Champions League final in June.
He looked leaner than he often does when returning from injury, the product of a different approach to taking care of himself this time around, and there was a glimpse at the mouthwatering prospect of a midfield link-up with Phil Foden.
“In some games, they can play together, sometimes they cannot,” Guardiola added. “We have to think about it.”
Then there is Guardiola’s assertion, which he has brought up a couple of times now, that De Bruyne cannot ‘make City play good’, in the sense of helping their build-up, making them more solid, but can, of course, make the difference in attack.
“Kevin helps to win games, there are few in the world like that,” he said on Sunday.
But before all of that: training sessions, training sessions, training sessions.
(Top photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)