'Legendary', 'pure class' and 'on another level' are just some of the terms used to describe Kevin de Bruyne this week. The Belgian is enjoying one of his best starts to a season since moving to Napoli on a free transfer this summer which begs the question, did he leave Manchester City a year too early?

The exodus of senior City players in the past year has been well documented, with the likes of Ederson, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker all leaving for pastures new. De Bruyne was also deemed surplus to requirements - despite 16 trophies and more than 400 appearances - and the midfielder, reluctant to leave, joined Napoli when his contract expired in June.

"I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it," said De Bruyne back in April. "Honestly, I still think I can perform at this level like I'm showing, but I understand clubs have to make decisions."

It turns out the 34-year-old was correct in his self-assessment. De Bruyne has begun 2025-26 in sparkling form, underlined by two goals from the penalty spot during Belgium's 4-2 win in Wales on Monday night. He has 11 goal involvements in 12 appearances for club and country this season, with three assists and eight goals. It represents his best goalscoring start to a campaign and only twice before has he registered more goal contributions in his opening 12 games, in 2023-24 and 2019-20.

The Belgian also appears to have slotted in seamlessly to life in Serie A and, while he is yet to register a league assist, he has created the equal-second most chances among all midfielders. His tally of three goals has only been bettered by AC Milan's Christian Pulisic and Bologna's Riccardo Orsolini, who have four, and only a handful of midfield players have registered more shots on target.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have made a strong but not spectacular start to the campaign on all fronts, with six wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening 10 fixtures. One of those wins came against De Bruyne's Napoli at Etihad Stadium, with the Belgian's highly-anticipated homecoming lasting just 26 minutes after team-mate Giovanni di Lorenzo was sent off.

But despite that anticlimax, De Bruyne's start to 2025-26 suggests he could still have been a key figure in Pep Guardiola's squad and, when compared to City's current crop of midfielders and wingers, only his compatriot Jeremy Doku comes close to his return of goals and assists. De Bruyne also appears to be fully fit, having struggled to maintain his fitness towards the end of his time in the Premier League.

He made only 34 league starts across the past two seasons with City but has already started five of Napoli's six Serie A matches, appearing from the bench in the other. "I feel good," he said of his start in Italy. "I'm playing a lot and I'm in good shape."

De Bruyne has already represented Belgium in three World Cups and is one of the last remaining players from his country's much vaunted 'golden generation'. "We're so lucky to have a player like Kevin," said his former national coach - and now Portugal manager - Roberto Martinez in 2022. "For me he's the most incredible playmaker in world football at this present time."

However, Belgium have employed two head coaches since Martinez and De Bruyne was stripped of the captaincy at the start of September by the latest boss Rudi Garcia - a role he had held since March 2023. Garcia selected Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans as his new skipper, adding that he is "the link between the golden generation and the younger players".

The 34-year-old De Bruyne accepted the decision and responded in typical fashion by scoring five times in his first four games under Garcia, with his double against Wales putting the Red Devils top of their qualifying group and in touching distance of a fourth successive World Cup appearance.

De Bruyne will celebrate his 35th birthday midway through next summer's showpiece event in Canada, Mexico and the United States and he is showing little sign of slowing down.