Top 5 Manchester City players this season so far

#3 Joao Cancelo

West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City - Premier League

Joao Cancelo has settled down in the Manchester City starting lineup and done that quite well. There never really were any questions about his abilities though he did struggle to produce the goods on a consistent basis in the 2019-20 season.

Cancelo almost plays as an extra midfielder these days and his playmaking skills are now coming to the fore. The former Juventus man is an excellent technician.The 26-year-old has great vision and can spot runs and find his teammates who are making runs into dangerous areas without any hitches.

Cancelo's versatility enables him to play down either flank and he can play as a right-back and left-back. He has even played in midfield. Cancelo has scored three goals and provided two assists in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League combined this season.

#2 Ilkay Gundogan

No David Silva? No problem. Well, that's not something that Manchester City fans would have hoped of saying even during the initial days of the season. However, the way that Ilkay Gundogan has stepped up over the last couple of months.

Ilkay Gundogan, unlike most central midfielders, loves exploiting spaces in the final third and he has a great eye for goal. Gundogan is Manchester City's highest scorer in the Premier League this season with nine goals to his name from 21 appearances across all competitions and has been their best player over the past month.

The interesting thing to note here is that Gundogan has never been known to be much of a goalscorer. Yet, here he is scoring long-range screamers, tap-ins in addition to showing great poaching abilities inside the box.

#1 Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion - Premier League

Kevin De Bruyne didn't start the season on the right note and that reflected in Manchester City's performances in the opening stages of the new campaign. But the Belgian has truly come to his own over the past few months and has been pulling the strings from midfield to great effect.

He currently tops the assist chart in the Premier League as is usual and he has 10 assists in the league. He has three more assists in the Champions League. The Belgian has continued to perform at a high level despite losing his midfield partner David Silva.

Though several individuals have stepped up their game this season for Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne will be central to the Cityzens mounting a challenge on all fronts.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith