Kevin De Bruyne has work to do to earn a new Manchester City deal - if he wants one.

The Belgian is coming towards the end of his tenth year at the Etihad and has shelved talks over a new contract until he feels he is in the form to push for one. Injuries have ravaged the last two years of his career and as he searches for his form and rhythm again Pep Guardiola has made it clear that the player has to show he deserves to stay into 2026 and beyond.

When the 33-year-old last sorted a new deal, in 2021, talks took no time at all. As a data report that De Bruyne commissioned showed, there was no player in world football that could give City what he did, so they had to reflect that in his pay.

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This time, things are a little different. As the club looks to the future, they can make more of a case to move on if their legend cannot prove his magic is still irreplaceable.

It may well come down to how much he plays. Out of all the players this season, only Jeremy Doku has a higher win percentage when he has started in all competitions and in the Premier League alone nobody makes the team win like De Bruyne does.

In the nine games he has started - just under half of City's 20 - the Blues have won seven, drawn one and lost one (averaging 2.4 points per start). That defeat came in the Manchester derby, which they were winning when he was substituted.

That is not to say that De Bruyne has been responsible for every single win and there are other metrics better for valuing individual performances, but it still counts for something. De Bruyne can use it to argue that the team are more likely to pick up points when he starts than any other player in the squad.

By the same token, City can point to Kyle Walker at the other end of the table if they want to justify moving the 34-year-old defender on. Walker has played through injury in many games this season, but the team have picked up just five points from the nine league games he has started - the worst record (0.8 points per start) of anyone in the squad.

Despite their individual struggles, each of City's three wingers rank highly for points per start. Jack Grealish is second behind De Bruyne with 2.2 from six games, Jeremy Doku average 2.1 points from eight and Savinho is joint-fourth with Ruben Dias and Mateo Kovacic averaging two points per start.