Manchester City’s players of the season so far

It’s been a stellar campaign for the Citizens to date, but we hold our collectively breath to see what could come of it. With City in the mix for three trophies and plenty of players putting their hands up in the big games, we decided to take a look around at the various ratings available for the squad to see how the statisticians rate the performances of the City heroes thus far. These days there are a number of developed unique ratings system for player and team performance that can be used for everything from team and opposition analysis to soccer betting online decision-making and even Fantasy league selections. Never before have the public had access to such detailed data on soccer. Here we take a look at the top 5 City players of the campaign so far:

5. Phil Foden
Perhaps a slight surprise on this list, only because of the amount of football Foden has missed, there is no doubt that when the young Englishman plays, he contributes. Nine goals and five assists in the Premier League in just 17 starts is a great return – one more goal in the league would see this as Foden’s most successful season in front of goal to date. And at just 22 years of age, this is one player who will no doubt get better and better.

4. Rodri
It’s a testament to the importance of the Spanish defensive midfielder Rodri that he has played nearly every game that he has been available for. His value to his team and his coach is undoubted, and his ability to break up play and pick out teammates has been so crucial to City’s success this season. Two goals and six assists in the league is nothing to be sniffed at either for a player who is primarily a defensive option. Rodri is simply a lynchpin of this City team, and he pops up with the odd worldie of a goal as well, as he did in the Champions League against Bayern Munich. 

3. Jack Grealish
The 2022/23 campaign has been one of proving critics wrong for a player with a big reputation and even bigger price tag who somewhat underwhelmed in his first season at the Etihad. But this season Grealish has shown his true worth, adding so much more to the team that his bare stats - five goals and six assists – testify to. The proof of the pudding is Guardiola’s faith in the Englishmen for the biggest games of City’s season, games in which the attacker has shown with his dribbling skills and ability to win free-kicks.

2. Erling Haaland
What a debut season at the Etihad it’s been for the Norwegian goalscoring machine. For anyone (and there can’t have been many) that doubted Haaland would translate his finishing ability to the Premier League, the results have been spectacular - 34 goals and seven assists so far in what has been a record breaking season. In fact, Haaland has broken the 50 goal barrier across all competitions and that’s with games to spare. Throw in several man of the match awards and a shoe-in for Footballer of the Year award and you’ve got a season that dreams are made of. But will it result in team silverware?

1. Kevin De Bruyne
Although perhaps not statistically his strongest campaign in a City shirt, the Belgian wizard Kevin De Bruyne has still been sensational. Seven goals and 16 assists only tells part of the story when it comes to the genius of this man, who has also bagged nine man of the match awards in the Premier League alone. Those 16 assists leave De Bruyne only four shy of his best season ever, and his contributions in the Champions League once again prove the maestro’s quality and value in the biggest games. Undoubtedly one of City’s greatest players.