5 Brilliant Footballers who are having an injury crisis this season

#1 Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City)

Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Premier League

The Belgian was the player of the season last year, even though he lost out on the trophy to Mohamed Salah. De Bruyne was brilliant for a City side that powered to 100 points in the league and won the Premier League Champions with a 19 point gap at the top of the table.

Over the summer, De Bruyne powered Belgium to the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where his country finished third. He was the heartbeat of both teams, the engine made of gold, and his vision, efficiency and brilliance made him one of the best midfielders in the world.

As such, even greater things were expected of him this season, however, De Bruyne's dreams were broken in the very first match of the season against Arsenal, when he tore his knee ligament, an injury that ruled him out for 63 days.

He missed 10 games for City, before making a brief return in the middle of October. He played just 120 minutes over 3 matches, before a ligament injury sidelined him again, this time for another 43 days, where he missed a further 11 games.

He finally made his return in the middle of December now, before another knock ruled him out for 5 days, making him miss the game against Southampton. He returned to lead his team out against Rotherham, in the FA Cup last weekend, where he played for 67 minutes.

While City had initially coped well, the absence of their talisman had taken its toll as they stuttered in December. They are still second in the league, 4 points behind Liverpool and will be counting on their best player to rally them to a successful title defense.