KEVIN DE BRUYNE | Manchester City & Belgium

Rejected by Jose Mourinho yet embraced by Manuel Pellegrini and now adored by Pep Guardiola, the 25-year-old has established himself as the most creative player in the Premier League over the past 12 months. So important has he become that City struggle to cope with any injury-enforced absence, as evidenced by the fact that they lost four of the seven league games he missed with a knee problem earlier this year.