Having coached the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich prior to his arrival in the Premier League, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given his verdict on who the best midfielder on the planet is.
Guardiola has had the pleasure of coaching some of the best sides and individuals during his 15 years as a professional football manager. While the likes of Andreas Iniesta and David Silva's days of being world-class midfielders are behind them, Guardiola still has the honour of coaching some of the finest players in world football.
One of them being Kevin De Bruyne, who he described as being the best midfielder in the world.
"I would say maybe yes [he is the best midfielder in the world]," the 51-year-old told the press, as per the Daily Mail.
"I'm so happy and he is the last player that is still here since I arrived. Especially in this year he scored a lot of goals, not just assists.
"In important moments, especially in the Premier League he was a key player.
"He is more mature and understands the game perfectly right now. He feels now that he is a better player. He will not admit it because he is so shy.
"He doesn't want to pretend to be something different than what he is.
"I like to work with players like Kevin who are a top-class player and behaves completely differently. He is a normal guy and likes to play football."
There has been a lot of change in recent weeks at the Etihad Stadium with long serving players such as Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko all departing and making way for new additions like Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips.
However, Guardiola has insisted that even within the change that De Bruyne is a player that he knows he can rely on.
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