#1 Kevin De Bruyne - €74.00 million
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For a player whom Jose Mourinho had felt wasn’t good enough for Chelsea just 18 months earlier, no one would’ve been expecting Kevin De Bruyne to return to the English shores, no less for a record transfer fee.
But on the back of a stellar 2014-15 season at Wolfsburg in which he broke the Bundesliga record for most assists and was also named the Footballer of the Year in the German top-flight, De Bruyne was snapped up by Manuel Pellegrini for a still club record £58.4 million deal.
Turning into the team’s leading playmaker, De Bruyne was a constant menace, whether providing a heap of assists or scoring them themselves. In the absence of the injured David Silva, De Bruyne proved to be a capable focal point in City’s already star-studded attack.
De Bruyne’s importance became apparent during his brief absence due to a knee ligament damage following a crunching tackle from Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori when City lost five of their next seven Premier League games and were in serious danger of missing out on a top-four spot.
Easily City’s best player in a rather disappointing last season with 16 goals and 9 assists across all competitions, the Belgium international has gone a long way in justifying Manchester City’s decision to make him Britain’s second most expensive footballer.
