Is De Bruyne the best midfielder in Premier League history?

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De Bruyne to leave Man City at end of the season

Kevin De Bruyne will go down as “one of the greatest midfielders ever to have played in this country,” according to his manager Pep Guardiola, who led the tributes to the Belgian following his announcement that he will be leaving Manchester City at the end of the season.

De Bruyne’s summer departure will mark the end of an era after 10 trophy-laden seasons at the Etihad Stadium during which he has racked up goals, assists and trophies galore.

De Bruyne has won 14 major honours including six Premier League titles and the 2023 UEFA Champions League, which was part of Man City’s historic treble.

And he will go down as one of the best creative players to grace English football, with his 118 assists the second highest total in Premier League history.

But where does De Bruyne rank among the best midfielders in Premier League history?

Football writer Adrian Kajumba looks at some of the standout midfielders who have played in the competition.

Beckham became a global celebrity who transcended his sport but that status should not detract from his considerable footballing ability.

Right-winger Beckham won 10 major trophies including the Champions League to complete a historic treble in 1999 and was an integral member of several Manchester United title-winning sides.

He made 265 appearances across nine Premier League campaigns and was renowned for the quality he could produce with his right foot, in open play and from set-pieces.

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The former was frequently displayed by his pinpoint crossing ability which led to many of his 80 Premier League assists, the 11th highest total in competition history.

Beckham’s dead-ball expertise helped him score a Premier League record 18 free-kicks among his overall total of 62 goals. He was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021.

De Bruyne had his first fleeting taste of Premier League football at Chelsea but it was during his years at Man City that he developed into a world-class star.

He has helped inspire Man City to the title in six of his nine completed seasons, been crowned EA SPORTS Player of the Season twice and scored 70 times in 280 appearances.

But it is when it comes to creativity that De Bruyne has had few equals since his return to English football.

Three times he has won the Premier League’s playmaker of the season award for setting up the most goals in a campaign and his current total of 118 assists is the second highest on the all-time list.

No player has also created anywhere near as many Premier League chances as De Bruyne has managed to since he joined Man City in 2015, with the Belgian’s tally of 827 well clear of Christian Eriksen’s 533.

Fabregas represented two Premier League clubs and shone at both.

He burst onto the scene as a 16 year-old at Arsenal, becoming their youngest ever Premier League starter aged 17 years and 103 days, and established himself as one of the best young midfielders in the game before returning from Barcelona to become a Premier League champion at Chelsea.

A FIFA World Cup winner in 2010, Fabregas won two titles at Stamford Bridge, among his five major trophies in English football, and finished his Premier League career with 50 goals in 350 matches across his two clubs.

But he is another to have really made their mark in the Premier League through their creativity.

Fabregas set up 846 chances, the most on record since 2003/04, while his total of 111 assists is third on the all-time list, just behind De Bruyne.

The Premier League title may have cruelly eluded Gerrard but his individual quality and contribution to the Liverpool cause cannot be questioned.

Gerrard, also a Hall of Famer, was one of the finest midfielders the competition has ever seen, a talismanic figure who could do it all in the heart of Liverpool’s midfield and did win seven other major trophies, including the Champions League in 2005.

In 504 Premier League matches, Gerrard provided 120 goals, a tally only beaten by Frank Lampard among midfielders and 92 assists, leaving him eighth on the all-time list, and has 828 created chances on record, the third best total.

With countless other inspirational moments and performances during his 17-season Premier League career, the former Liverpool captain is a more than worthy contender in this discussion.

Giggs’s almost unmatched longevity is reflected in the glittering CV he finished his career with.

The decorated winger, who at his peak lit up the league with his searing pace and dribbling ability and won 24 major trophies, featured in 22 different Premier League seasons and won the title in 13 of them, more than any other player in the competition's history.

The second oldest outfield player to play in the Premier League, making his final appearance aged 40 years five months and seven days, one-club man Giggs also tops the list for assists, with 162, and is third for all-time appearances, with 632, and third for goals from midfield, with 109.

Kante enjoyed a fairytale rise in football which peaked while he was in the Premier League.

After starting out in France’s second tier, the little-known Kante was snapped up by Leicester City in 2015 and went on to reach the game’s summit by winning the World Cup with France in 2018.

His rise to prominence with his country came thanks to his incredible exploits at club level.

Famous for his tireless displays, ability to cover ground, sense danger and tackle, rather than goals or assists, Kante helped Leicester to defy the odds and win the Premier League title in 2016.

He followed that up by doing the same with Chelsea in his debut season at Stamford Bridge.

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In doing so, he was crowned Premier League player of the season for 2016/17 and became the first outfield player since Eric Cantona to win successive English titles with two different clubs.

Keane got his first taste of Premier League football at Nottingham Forest before establishing himself as one of the game’s greats at United.

Widely considered to be one of - if not the - best Premier League captains, Keane was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

Keane was a tough-tackling central midfielder, whose ability was underrated in some quarters, and who was renowned for his high standards and how he influenced team-mates.

Subsequently, Keane, who enjoyed a legendary rivalry with Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira, was a key figure in each of his seven title-winning triumphs, and 12 major trophy wins in total, at Old Trafford.

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In the history of the Premier League, Lampard was one of the very best when it came to contributing to goals from midfield.

Lampard is the highest-placed midfielder on the all-time scorers list and sixth overall, with 177 goals. His total of 102 assists is also the fifth best in the competition's history.

The Hall of Famer's exploits have also brought tangible reward for Lampard, another whose longevity was also a notable feature of his career having played 609 top-flight matches to sit fourth on the all-time appearance list.

He has three Premier League titles among his haul of 11 major prizes and was named player of the season after inspiring Chelsea to their first Premier League title in 2004/05.

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Makelele’s place in football folklore is guaranteed – he was so good in his position it was named after him

Not many midfielders have been better at protecting their defence down the years than the Frenchman, whose performances led to the defensive midfield position being widely dubbed the Makelele role.

For Chelsea, Makelele repeatedly and expertly patrolled the area in front of their backline between 2003 and 2008.

He was part of their first two Premier League title-winning teams in 2004/05 and 2005/06, among five major trophy triumphs, success that may not have been possible without him anchoring their midfield.

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At his peak, Ozil was one of the game’s great playmakers.

That may not have translated into Premier League success – his main trophies were four FA Cup triumphs – but Arsenal were treated to their fair share of moments of goal or chance-creating magic from Ozil.

He featured in the Premier League in seven seasons for Arsenal, making 184 appearances and recording an impressive 87 goal involvements – 33 goals and 54 assists.

That assists total earned Ozil the eighth-best minutes-per-assist rate in Premier League history, firm evidence of his creative quality and impact in the division even without the main prize.

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Rodri has been one of the standout Premier League midfielders of recent years and key to Man City’s historic run of four successive titles.

The Spaniard quickly developed into one of Guardiola’s main men following his 2019 arrival from Atletico Madrid.

He has excelled at shielding his defence, been essential to Man City’s possession-based approach and chipped in with numerous huge goals for the club, not least the one that sealed their Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and treble in 2023.

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His importance to Man City was recognised when he won the 2024 Ballon d’Or and his influence was equally underlined by how Guardiola’s side have struggled without him due to a knee injury in 2024/25.

Only Giggs won more Premier League titles than Scholes’ 11.

Beyond trophies, how brilliantly effective he was in two different roles during his career is also part of Scholes’s legacy, which saw him enter the Hall of Fame in 2022.

Scholes, another treble winner who lifted 18 major trophies overall, was more of a goalscoring midfielder in the first part of his career, before transitioning to become a dictator of matches as the years wore on and he was equally influential doing both, with his quality repeatedly hailed by his peers.

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Scholes, who famously came out of retirement to end his Man Utd career with an 18-month spell, finished his career having broken the 100-goal mark, retiring with 107 in the Premier League, and 14th on the all-time appearances list, with 499.

Silva shone in the Premier League for Man City, going down as one of the division’s standout midfield magicians.

In 10 seasons at Man City and 309 appearances, he contributed to 153 goals, through 60 goals and 93 assists.

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His assists total places him seventh on the all-time list while his ability to unlock defences is also reflected in the 793 chances he created since records began in 2003/04, the fifth highest total.

Silva won four Premier League titles and 11 major trophies in total at Man City.

Toure was a key figure in Man City’s rise to becoming the force they are today after he joined from Barcelona in 2010.

At his best, Toure was a technically gifted and unstoppable presence in the heart of Man City’s midfield.

In 230 Premier League appearances he scored 62 goals and recorded 32 assists. Among those contributions were a long list of especially vital ones that helped Man City to their first three titles, which are among his six major trophies in England.

In the second of those triumphs, in 2013/14, Toure became just the third midfielder to score 20 goals in a single Premier League season.

Vieira is another of the Premier League’s undoubted greats after developing into one of the best midfielders of his generation after joining Arsenal from AC Milan in 1996 aged 19.

Vieira was a hugely-influential and outstanding all-rounder who was one of the most dominant midfielders of his era and a contributor of goals and assists too, scoring 31 and setting up 34 in his 307 career games.

His best Premier League years were at Arsenal, who he captained, where he won three Premier League titles and was also named player of the season in 2000/01.

He then had a career-ending swansong at Man City, where an FA Cup took him to eight major trophies in English football. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.

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