Why Chelsea Fans Should Be Excited About Young Playmaker

Life is looking good for Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea side. Not only did they pick up a 2-0 victory over Hull City in their opening game of the season, but they showed they have a squad to really strike fear into their opponents. While Frank Lampard and Oscar stole the headlines for their goals, there was another man on the pitch who impressed me greatly – Kevin de Bruyne.

Being an admirer of European football I have been lucky enough to witness the 22-year-old on many occasions over the years as he plied his trade with the likes of Genk and more recently Werder Bremen. The young Belgian is an incredible talent, and it didn’t take long for Chelsea fans to realise.

Although he joined the west London club in January 2012, he spent last term on loan to Bremen, setting the German topflight alight with his creativity. But yesterday (Sunday) he was at the heart of the action against Steve Bruce’s side. After just 12 minutes he slipped a clever ball through to Oscar he opened the scoring.

His eye for a defence-splitting pass is something that was shown regularly last season. De Bruyne created 85 opportunities for his colleagues through the 33 games he played (nine assists) and scored 10 goals himself in the process.

This season he has already created two opportunities, won 100% of his duels and has a pass accuracy of 83%.

With the likes of Juan Mata, Andre Schurrle and Victor Moses all challenging to take the places of Lampard, Oscar and Eden Hazard, De Bruyne may see his playing time restricted somewhat. However, the fact that Mourinho gave him his chances on Sunday is a huge boost, and I for one hope to see him strutting his stuff on a weekly basis.

All statistics provided by Squawka.