Kevin De Bruyne form leaves Pep Guardiola with little choice at Man City

Kevin De Bruyne has been Manchester City’s best player before and may be again, but right now is painfully out of form

Having carried Manchester City during various periods of his career, Kevin De Bruyne currently, sadly, resembles a passenger in the side.

The thing with De Bruyne is that he is so absurdly talented that even when he is bad he can still do things that 99 per cent of footballers cannot, so all it takes is one ingenious assist and a poor performance can be overlooked in victory.

Against West Ham, he had a few moments. A beautifully chipped ball for John Stones forced Alphonse Areola into an excellent save in the second half, and minutes later there were a inch-perfect pass through the claret-and-blue shirts to find Raheem Sterling.

Too often though, the best player in the league last season was prohibiting rather than producing attacks. When the ball came his way, attacks broke down rather than building up.

As the player and his manager admit, it takes time to build his rhythm and form up after injury, and it shouldn’t be forgotten he is coming back from a particularly brutal set of injuries; knocked unconscious with a broken cheekbone in the Champions League final, he was rushed back only to suffer and then play on through snapped tendons in the Euros.

It is almost always worth the time to get him up to full speed, but for the moment it feels unfair to put his regeneration above the opportunity for a player in better form to show what they can do. Bernardo Silva has been outstanding as a No.8 this season, Ilkay Gundogan has returned from injury in the last two matches and slipped back into his usual levels of excellence, Phil Foden has clearly outshone his more senior teammate in recent months.

It isn’t an easy decision for Guardiola to make because of the pay-off that arrives with De Bruyne and the need for him to play. Asked about his form after the match, the City coach noted his contributions against Chelsea, Liverpool and Club Brugge this season although he did acknowledge that top form currently eludes him.