Kevin de Bruyne has been voted as the best midfielder in Premier League history

Kevin de Bruyne has been voted ahead of Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as the best midfielder in the Premier League's history.

Back in May 2022, De Bruyne produced one of the all-time great individual performances, as he scored four times in Manchester City's win over Wolves.

The Belgian midfielder's hat-trick was completed in 17 first half minutes, which helped Pep Guardiola’s side take a giant step towards Premier League glory.

City ended up being crowned champions after a dramatic final-day comeback victory against Aston Villa.

De Bruyne’s performances during the 21/22 season have led to comparisons to the legendary trio of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard, who are regularly the topic of debate about who is the best.

The Belgian midfielder was included in the debate and SPORTbible's fans have voted the City man as the best of the lot.

Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard have historically been thought of as the best in their position since the modern era of English football started in 1992.

It often depends who a fan supports as who they pick, especially when it comes to fans of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

It's interesting from that point that De Bruyne would now be ahead of the original three, who all played for historically better-supported clubs than the Belgian.

Of course, there's no doubt that recency bias has played a huge part in the voting, not least because of De Bruyne's performances but also because he's still playing.

Whilst De Bruyne didn't shine in his first spell in England, with Chelsea, he has become one of the best players in the world in the past few years.

His seven seasons at the Etihad Stadium have been extremely impressive, winning four league titles, five League Cups and the FA Cup, although somehow he is still short of a Champions League victory.

All his success only makes the comments made when he moved to England from Germany in 2015 all the funnier, with then Sky Sports pundits Phil Thompson and Paul Merson clearly not impressed with his £55 million transfer.

Now he can make a legitimate claim to being the best midfielder in the Premier League's history, which is quite the achievement.