Return of Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku represents turning point in Dream Team campaign

MANCHESTER CITY’S routine victory over Huddersfield in the FA Cup hardly came as a surprise.

The Terriers are battling relegation in the Championship and so a 5-0 defeat at the home of the treble winners was par for the course, even in Erling Haaland’s (£7.9m) continued absence.

Pep Guardiola’s side enjoyed 84% possession as they strolled into the fourth round of the competition they won for the seventh time in June of last year.

Plenty of Dream Team managers were pleased with the points achieved by Phil Foden (£5.1m) and Julian Alvarez (£4.2m) in the one-sided affair but the headline news concerned the return of Kevin De Bruyne (£6.7m) and Jeremy Doku (£4.1m) from injury.

The pair came off the bench in the 57th minute and combined for City’s fifth goal to remind the Etihad faithful of what they’ve been missing.

In what was a classic Guardiola goal, De Bruyne found his international team-mate in space with a delicate chip from the byline – meaning the former marked his return with a trademark assist.

Doku’s return is significant as the 21-year-old made huge waves in Dream Team earlier this season, mostly because his unmatched dribbling statistics ensured a torrent of bonus points.

But De Bruyne’s comeback may prove to be a pivotal turning point in the Dream Team campaign.

City’s playmaker-in-chief hasn’t been seen since the opening weekend of 2023/24 when he limped off in the 23rd minute.

Dream Team bosses old and new will know that he’s capable of mighty returns when in full flow.

Nobody can match his creative output and it would be a surprise if the bonus point system failed to recognise the positive impact of his overall performances.

Clearly, De Bruyne is a Dream Team asset capable of providing a volume of points that can reshape Mini Leagues but when should gaffers pull the trigger?

Guardiola made a point of telling journalists that he does not want to rush the 32-year-old back into sustained action after two lengthy lay-offs in recent times.

However, City have just three more games to fulfil before the end of the month as it stands due to the winter break so it should be easy enough to manage De Bruyne’s workload before things ramp up in February with the return of the Champions League.

Not that recruiting him will be all that easy for Dream Team managers given he’s the joint-second most expensive asset in the game at the time of writing.

Then there’s the question: how many Man City midfielders is too many?

Foden is in undroppable form right now having plundered 44 points from his last four outings.

Only Bukayo Saka (£6.1m) has more total points among midfielders and the Etihad’s homegrown starlet is closing the gap at a rapid rate – he’s now just nine point shy of his compatriot after a brace against Huddersfield.

Prior to his injury, Doku was verging on ‘must-have’ status and De Bruyne is simply one of best players of the modern era.

Three City midfielders is a viable strategy but such a ploy would mean missing out on in-form players from other clubs – Saka, Jarrod Bowen (£5.5m), Anthony Gordon (£3.9m), Cole Palmer (£3.6m) and several others are also pushing hard for selection.

A trio of City midfielders would also be somewhat vulnerable to rotation frustrations.

It can be stressful enough owning one Guardiola midfielder, let alone three, although Foden has been a lock for months on end now and Doku proved earlier in the season that he doesn’t need much time on the pitch to provide healthy returns.

Thankfully, gaffers have some time to weigh up the pros and cons as City have just one fixture (vs Newcastle) in Gameweek 20 whereas several other clubs will pull double duty so De Bruyne and Doku are probably not essential.

The thing about a player of De Bruyne’s calibre is that he generates a palpable FOMO (fear of missing out) that many gaffers will be unable to resist.

Officially, The Belgian playmaker has scored 64 goals and provided 102 assists in the Premier League alone and that doesn’t even account for the alternative definition of assists adopted by Dream Team and most other fantasy football games.

Decisions, decisions…

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk