Manchester City midfielder maestro Kevin De Bruyne has been named City's Fans' Footballer of the Year after enjoying a brilliant 2022.
That De Bruyne has been one of the best players in the world for some time now is hardly a secret, but this year has arguably been the best of his career. After finding his best form in the new year to propel City to a fourth Premier League title in five years, this season he has put in some virtuoso performances and forged a special bond with star striker Erling Haaland.
De Bruyne, who has scored 13 goals and provided 16 assists in 30 league appearances this calendar year, was part of a four-man shortlist for the City prize, and just about managed to pip Haaland to top spot. The thousands of City fans who voted placed Phil Foden in third and Joao Cancelo in fourth.
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Though Haaland has scored a remarkable 23 goals in 18 appearances since joining City in the summer, across the whole year De Bruyne is the worthy winner. From stunning goals to ridiculous assists, draw-dropping passes to relentless work rate, there are few players in world football who leave everything out on the pitch quite like City's number 17 does.
His moments of solo genius against Chelsea and Leicester, his dominating displays against Manchester United and the four goals he scored away at Wolves are just a few examples of why he has been City's best player this year. That's before you consider he was named the third-best male player in the world at the Ballon d'Or awards.
There were 60,000 votes across our nationwide Fans' Footballer of the Year, but unfortunately De Bruyne didn't scoop that prize as well. He ended up in sixth place, just behind Haaland. Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes took the overall prize, with Mohamed Salah named runner-up. Arsenal and England hero Beth Mead came third and Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka finished fourth.
See the national results in full here.
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