It was a cold, cold weekend in late October about four and a half years ago. Close to the German border, Racing Genk were hosting Mons in Belgium’s Jupiler League. It was not your average Saturday night.
Genk won 2-0, as expected, but as this was a busman's holiday, no notes were made. The memories are from standing at the back of the terracing – space for 4,000 – taking in the atmosphere, which included beer, smoke and laughs, and occasionally being brought back to the play by a thin Genk winger scurrying up and down the touchlines. He created both goals. This was Kevin De Bruyne. He was 20.
Even through the fog of smoke, beer and time, you could tell De Bruyne was a player going places. He had been linked already to Chelsea and three days earlier had been at Stamford Bridge, as Genk were drawn in Chelsea's Champions League group.
Genk lost 5-0 and would soon lose 7-0 in Valencia, so De Bruyne knows what it’s like not to be on the winning team.
Sure enough, three months later, in the January 2012 window, a £7 million transfer was done. Andre Villas-Boas was Chelsea manager at the time, but, as he went out of his way to say then, this was a club signing, not his.
Loan deals
Chelsea’s agreement was that De Bruyne would stay at Genk for the rest of the season, but there must have been someone at Chelsea who knew they had acquired a young talent. De Bruyne had been in the Genk first team from 17.
As Chelsea do, they sent De Bruyne out on loan, to Werder Bremen. As Villas-Boas became Roberto Di Matteo became Rafa Benitez, De Bruyne played on in the Bundesliga.
Then came José Mourinho’s second coming at Stamford Bridge and in his first game back in the Premier League. in August 2013, Mourinho selected the recalled De Bruyne for a 2-0 victory.
It's an interesting Chelsea teamsheet, this one against Hull City. De Bruyne, just turned 22, started, while Romelu Lukaku (20), came off the bench to replace Fernando Torres. Marco van Ginkel (20) was another used substitute, so too André Schürrle (22). Eden Hazard (20) played the whole 90 minutes.
Youthful profile
Chelsea had a youthful profile and Mourinho was the Happy One. This looked like the start of big things for De Bruyne in Chelsea blue.
Would they give him the time and opportunity to become the player they hoped he could be?
No.
Now he plays for Manchester City, Lukaku for Everton, Schürrle for Wolfsburg and Van Ginkel, while he remains contracted to Chelsea, is on loan in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven.
Only Hazard truly flourished at Stamford Bridge and who knows what happens next with him.
Just as De Bruyne’s story appeared to be about to lift off, it became about patience, frustration and the uncertainty of youthful development. No Chelsea manager took him as their player.
The club has an issue with the stockpiling of players. That can be seen in the sheer numbers sent out on loan – De Bruyne, Lukaku and Van Ginkel among them – which in turns creates another question: how to accurately assess the progress of each and every one of them. Is this why some slip through the net?
What we know for sure is that Chelsea would be a better team today with Lukaku and De Bruyne in it.
Their volume of players, allied to a lack of patience – hardly a problem unique to Chelsea admittedly – has brought curious departures.
None more so than De Bruyne, whose goal for City against Paris St-Germain in the Champions League quarter final second leg on Tuesday night was an example of the decisive excellence within his boots.
PSG, who knocked out Chelsea in the previous round, let us not forget, had no comparable player, not even Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
‘Top player’
Roy Keane looked mightily impressed as he called De Bruyne “a top, top player” on ITV, and he’ll be thinking of the Republic of Ireland v Belgium in Bordeaux on June 18th.
But it can’t be just Keane and Chelsea wondering about De Bruyne. Manchester City must be thinking about this season and how come they are 15 points behind Leicester.
Mourinho, having picked De Bruyne in that Premier League opener in 2013, let him join Wolfsburg in January 2014. The fee – £18 million – was clearly a factor, even at Chelsea. So, too, was De Bruyne’s growing dissatisfaction with Mourinho. The player would say later that the manager barely spoke to him.
Mourinho could reply that Chelsea did okay without him. Last season they won the league with Hazard shining.
But De Bruyne was also doing well. Wolfsburg finished second behind Bayern Munich and De Bruyne was named Bundesliga player of the year.
Hence the staggering £55 million transfer to City last August. De Bruyne had to demonstrate some patience of his own as he scored for both Wolfsburg and Belgium before finally the transfer was complete.
He joined City in time to play a part in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in September; it was City’s fifth in a row as they threatened to turn the Premier League into a procession.
That did not happen, of course, but with the assistance of 12 De Bruyne goals, by the end of January, City were second in the league, three points off Leicester, had reached the League Cup final, the FA Cup fourth round and the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
Costly injury
Then De Bruyne was injured, just as the Pep Guardiola news broke.
What’s happened since is that City won the League Cup – on penalties against Liverpool – and are in the semi-final of the Champions League.
Yet in the Premier League, De Bruyne’s absence coincided with home defeats by Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester United, and away at Liverpool.
With De Bruyne missing, City’s three-point deficit with Leicester became 15 and a concern about finishing fifth; which is why Tuesday against PSG was so important.
De Bruyne’s goal raised City to another European level and, we imagine, should instil sufficient confidence domestically that fourth place will be ensured. However, with four of City’s last six matches away from home, it’s not guaranteed.
Neatly for De Bruyne, the task begins this evening at Stamford Bridge.
He has not been back since he left, though City lost there 5-1 in the FA Cup in February, a game Manuel Pellegrini wrote off.
So this is De Bruyne’s opportunity to remind Chelsea of what they once had, and what they could still have, if only they had a different approach to recruitment and development.
He is 24 years old.
