Pep Guardiola may have endured a chastening first year in English football, but not only was the squad overhauled at the end of it but they endured perfect preparations for the 2017/18 campaign.
The final pieces of the manager’s Manchester City jigsaw slotted together during a summer camp in the United States that allowed Kevin De Bruyne to thrive. The Belgian looked like he would threaten to be the best player in England and he duly did, scoring six times and assisting nine in 21 Premier League games up to the end of the year in a string of talismanic performances to set up the Centurions campaign.
Injury ruined the following season but by the summer of 2019 as City toiled in the Shanghai heat in pre-season, De Bruyne was looking sizzling again. Asked if it was like having a new player again, Guardiola replied that it was like having the 2017 De Bruyne back.
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Before the year was out, the playmaker had seven goals and 12 assists from 19 league games - including two goals and eight assists from his first seven games. City were wobbling collectively but there was no stopping their star.
After a wretched autumn last year following another injury, De Bruyne produced the most productive season of his career following a remarkably consistent run that saw him average a goal or assist every game from mid-December until the end of the season; his last, the third against Aston Villa, showing how he drove City to the title right to the last day.
Going off what has been in evidence in Houston and Green Bay, there is no reason to think that prolific form cannot run into this season. Two goals against Club America were followed by an aggressively accurate ball to Jack Grealish against Bayern Munich who squared for Erling Haaland to score.
Guardiola is certainly happy, content that his best player is showing those familiar signs that make a title challenge so much easier. At the very least, City should be able to see the fittest version of the 31-year-old before the World Cup in November.
Something key that 2017 and 2019 had in common were that they were summers without major tournaments; De Bruyne is flogged whenever he plays for Belgium to the point where he played a Euro 2020 quarter-final last year despite ligament damage to his ankle. With plenty of rest this year, it is set up for another goals blitz.
The day after City signed Haaland, De Bruyne scored four against Wolves complete with a Haaland celebration that he claimed afterwards he didn’t even realise. Ahead of a new campaign, the arrival of the Dortmund striker may not have changed the difference-maker in this team.
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