Kevin De Bruyne silences 'bonkers' claim after Manchester City milestone reached

Kevin De Bruyne has proved his doubters wrong at Manchester City after recording his 100th assist for the club against Southampton on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's men secured a vital three points at St Mary's Stadium this weekend as goals from Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez closed the gap to just six points on Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Although a scoreline of 4-1 would hint at a dominant performance, the story could have been very different after a frustrating first 45-minutes of play, where the hosts looked as if they may be able to shut-out City and escape with a point.

It wasn't till half-time approached that the Southampton defence was eventually unlocked by a killer pass from De Bruyne to tee-up Norwegian goal machine, Erling Haaland. The Belgian playmaker's 100th assist in the top flight of English football, an accolade achieved at a faster rate than all of the other four players to have reached the milestone.

It's an achievement that marks an impressive return on City's £54 million investment for the player back in 2015, which was originally criticised by pundits Phil Thompson and Paul Merson whilst appearing on Sky Sports.

Speaking at the time of the signing, Thompson criticised the acquisition by saying: "De Bruyne? Honestly, the world has gone mad.

"You look at the amount of money they're paying for this boy. Absolutely bonkers. He's a good player, but is he a great player in that respect? Come on."

Paul Merson was then asked if Jose Mourinho was wrong to let De Bruyne leave Chelsea for Wolfsburg back in 2014. Where he said: "I didn't think so. I didn't think he'd done it at Chelsea, he didn't get loads of chances but he didn't look part of the Chelsea way.

"I think it was right for him to go. If you buy someone for £8 million and selling them for £10 million profit, it's a no-brainer. I just don't see this. I don't see £50 million for this player [De Bruyne]."

Kevin De Bruyne becomes the fastest player in Premier League history to reach 100 assists.

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— HLTCO (@HLTCO) April 8, 2023