Kevin De Bruyne has signed a new two-year contract extension at Manchester City to keep him at the Etihad until 2023.
The Belgian play-maker, a 2015 signing from Wolfsburg, has scored 31 goals in 122 appearances to date and no Premier League player has made more than 38 assists since he joined City.
He becomes the latest Manchester City player to commit his future to the club following recently announced deals for Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi.
This season alone De Bruyne has improved markedly, playing 32 matches in all competitions, scoring eight times with 13 assists while becoming a key part of City boss Pep Guardiola’s team going forward and being named in the UEFA Team of the Year following a string of outstanding performances for the Blues.
De Bruyne was proud of his form so far this season, especially against the big clubs that has helped propel his team to the top of the Premier League with a 12-point advantage over Manchester United and strong positions in their other competitions, saying: “I think maybe the best thing is that I’ve performed well in the big games. I try to help the team in these big games.
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“That was maybe the issue we had the last two years where in every big game we didn’t really perform that well and we didn’t win a lot of them.
“This year, except the Liverpool game last week, we’ve won all of them and I think I did pretty well. Hopefully we can go far in all competitions and have good games then.
“In the end we’ll see what happens but obviously I feel very happy with the way everything is going here so let’s try to do the same for the rest of the year.”
De Bruyne has made no secret of his affinity with Manchester City and the fact that his wife and family is settled in Manchester has also helped.
He said: “I feel very good here, I was very happy. I think the way everything went for me when I came here was exceptional.
“The club talked to me about renewing my contract to stay longer. We were open to it and for me it’s the best decision to stay here.
“When we came here, we were already pregnant together, so the baby was coming that year. Everything went so well, the family is very happy.
“My wife also knows that for us it is the best decision to stay here. We know that with the way everything is going here, this is the best decision we could take.”