Kevin De Bruyne is set to make his 422nd and final appearance for Manchester City when they conclude the 2024-25 Premier League season with a clash against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.
The Belgian playmaker announced last month that he will be bringing the curtain down on a glittering 10-year career as a Citizens player when his contract expires at the end of the season.
De Bruyne bid an emotional farewell to Man City supporters after making his final Etihad appearance in a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
The 33-year-old is widely regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest ever players and will also go down as one of the very best to have worn the sky blue colours of Man City.
With that in mind, Sports Mole has taken on the difficult task of naming the top 10 greatest players to ever represent Man City.
10. Alan Oakes
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Descried by managerial icon Bill Shankly as "the very best type of professional, on the field and off it...exactly the kind of player youngsters should use as a model," Alan Oakes enjoyed an impressive career at Man City between 1959 and 1976, making a club-record 680 appearances.
Until more recent times in the 21st century, the Chester-born midfielder was one of City's most decorated player, winning eight trophies including the European Cup Winners' Cup, the First Division title, one FA Cup and two League Cups.
9. Mike Summerbee
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A hugely popular figure at Man City, Mike Summerbee provided the glitz and glamour that his close friend George Best gave rivals Man United across the city. The winger made a total of 452 appearances, scoring 67 goals, across a legendary decade of service between 1965 and 1975.
Now an ambassador at the club, Summerbee arrived at City for just £31,000 from Swindon Town and played in all 52 games in league and cup competitions as the Citizens returned to the top flight thanks to their Second Division title triumph.
The eight-cap England international also played an integral role in helping City win the European Cup Winners' Cup, the First Division title, the FA Cup, the League Cup and two FA Charity Shields, and his service to the club has since been honoured with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium where he stands alongside two more iconic stars that feature on this list.
8. Yaya Toure
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A modern-day colossus like no other, Yaya Toure was one of the first high-profile signings of the Sheikh Mansour era, joining from Barcelona in 2010, and he did not take long to etch his name into Man City folklore.
So often the man for the big occasion, the powerful all-round midfielder scored the winning goals in the semi-final and final of the 2011 FA Cup to end the club's 35-year wait for silverware, while he also netted a crucial brace in a 2-0 win at Newcastle in City's penultimate Premier League fixture of the 2011-12 season en route to winning the club's first-top flight title in 44 years.
Toure's most prolific campaign for the Citizens was in 2013-14 when he recorded 20 Premier League goals from midfield in the second of three title-winning seasons he celebrated at the club. The Ivorian also won two EFL Cups and one Community Shield during eight memorable years at the Etihad, scoring a total of 81 goals in 292 appearances.
7. Francis Lee
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The late Francis Lee, who sadly passed away aged 79 in October 2023, is widely regarded as one of Man City's greatest ever goalscorer and sits third on the club's all-time scoring charts with 148 goals in 330 appearances across an iconic seven-year career between 1967 and 1974.
A £60,000 club-record signing from Bolton Wanderers, Lee was the top scorer for five successive seasons from 1969-70 to 1973-74. He won the First Division, FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup, two Charity Shields and the Second Division during his time at City.
Lee, who also scored a penalty in the European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1970, was labelled by legendary manager Joe Mercer as "the final piece in the jigsaw" when he joined the club, and his legacy is immortalised in the statue along with Summerbee (and one other famous name) outside the Etihad.
6. Bert Trautmann
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Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann served in the Hitler Youth and later with the Luftwaffe during the Second World War before he was captured by British forces and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Lancashire.
Man City's decision to sign Trautmann in 1949 sparked mass protests, but he overcame the prejudice and hatred from the Citizens faithful to establish himself as one of the club's finest goalkeepers, making a total of 545 appearances across an impressive 15-year career at the club.
Trautmann's most iconic moment came in the 1956 FA Cup final when he miraculously inspired Man City to a 3-1 victory over Birmingham, despite being knocked unconscious by a heavy collision 17 minutes from time. It was discovered three days after the final that he had broken his neck and dislocated five vertebrae which could have led to paralysis or even death, and he was forced to take a six-month break from the game.
5. Vincent Kompany
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Leader. Captain. Legend. Vincent Kompany was one of the finest central defenders of the modern era during his 11-year career at Man City between 2008 and 2019 when he made 338 appearances and won 12 trophies, including four Premier League title, four EFL Cups and two FA Cups.
Now in charge of Bayern Munich, Kompany was an integral figure at Man City during a hugely successful period for the club, and he has since been honoured with a statue outside the Etihad. Not only did he contribute magnificently from a defensive perspective, he also delivered with some important goals.
The Belgian's bullet header against rivals Man United en route to winning his first PL title in 2012 will live long in the memory of City supporters, and who can forget that stunning long-range strike against Leicester in 2019, his final goal in sky blue and arguably one of the most iconic goals in the club's modern history.
4. Sergio Aguero
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Aguerooooooooo! Man City's all-time record goalscorer (260 goals in 390 games) netted what many regard as the greatest goal in the club's history and the most iconic strike in Premier League history when he fired home a sensational stoppage-time winner against QPR to seal City's first PL title in 2012.
The prolific Argentine scored 30 goals in his debut campaign at the club and he remained consistent in front of goal, netting at least 20 times in seven of his next nine seasons, winning the Premier League Golden Boot award in 2014-15 after scoring 26 goals in 33 games.
Aguero, who sits sixth on the Premier League all-time scoring charts (184), won 14 major trophies with Man City including five PL titles and five EFL Cups. He also reached the 2021 Champions League final and after leaving City at the end of that season, he was honoured with a statue outside the Etihad.
3. David Silva
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El Mago, Merlin, the magician - all nicknames fitting for one of the most masterful, elegant, technically gifted and uniquely versatile playmakers in Premier League history. David Silva excelled in a plethora of midfield and attacking positions and was a joy to watch during a hugely successful decade at Man City between 2010 and 2020.
Silva joined City from Valencia shortly after winning the 2010 World Cup with Spain and he went on to make 436 appearances - the 10th-most in the club's history - recording 77 goals and 136 assists as well as winning four Premier League titles, five EFL Cups, two FA Cup and three Community Shields.
The Gran Canaria-born maestro, who was key part of the Citizens team who became the first in English football history to win all four domestic trophies in the same season in 2018-19, had a statue of himself unveiled outside the Etihad in 2021, with it standing close by to fellow club legends Kompany and Aguero.
2. Colin Bell
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The King of the Kippax. Man City have been blessed with several world-class talents in the modern era, but when you rewind to the mid-1960s, few will argue that Colin Bell was the club's finest player to don the sky blue shirt.
City's No.8 shirt will forever be associated with Bell, who was signed for £47,500 for Bury in 1968 and went on to make 501 appearances for Man City across a legendary 13-year career at the club, scoring 153 goals and playing an integral role in winning the European Cup Winners' Cup, the First Division title, the FA Cup, two League Cup and two FA Charity Shields.
A majestic, versatile midfielder in his prime who earned 48 international caps for England, Bell not only has a statue of himself as part of a triple tribute with Summerbee and Francis, he also has the main stand at the Etihad named in his honour.
1. Kevin De Bruyne
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While for some the greatest Premier League midfielder of all time is still (and probably always will be) up for debate, it is safe to say that Kevin De Bruyne sits comfortably among a pantheon of extraordinary footballers and can go down as one of Man City's greatest ever players, a view supported by Pep Guardiola among many others.
De Bruyne is a two-time Premier League Player of the Year and across an illustrious 10-year career at the Etihad, the playmaker established himself as the key creative cog in Guardiola's dominant sky-blue machine, scoring 70 goals and registering 177 assists, with 119 of those in the PL putting him second on the all-time list.
The six-time Premier League winner was at the heart of Man City's success, including the 'Centurion' season (accumulating 100 points) in 2017-18 - winning his first PL title - the 'Fourmidables' campaign, winning all four domestic trophies in one season for the first time in English football history, winning a historic treble that included the club's first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023, and also celebrating an unprecedented fourth successive title in 2023-24.
De Bruyne has been a delight to watch; a beautiful, well-respected footballer who facilitated Man City's record-breaking success and he will deservedly be honoured with a statue outside the Etihad.
Oliver Thomas
