Manchester: Vincent Kompany hailed Kevin De Bruyne as the best player in Germany and a special talent who can help Manchester City contend seriously for the Premier League and Champions League.
City sealed the signing of the 24-year-old Belgian midfielder on a six-year deal on Sunday for a fee that the club claim is £50.85m (Dh287m). This is despite reports in Germany that stated his price would be £58m.
While City have previously clarified the price of players — Eliaquim Mangala’s initial £32m was changed to £42m — De Bruyne’s international teammate Kompany says the fee is immaterial.
“I don’t know the figures but all I can say is I suppose you shouldn’t focus on numbers too much any more,” he said. “If a player can improve a squad that bit more, the value is very difficult to assess because there’s so much competition to get the top players. That dictates it really.
“He’s a tremendous talent. What he gives you — he’s just got so many assists and goals in him, it doesn’t really matter how the game goes for him, he’s always making decisive plays.
“Over the course of the season that’s ultimately what you pay for. More goals, more assists, he’s just got something special. He’s a game-changer definitely.”
De Bruyne started his career at the Belgian side Genk and was an integral member of their title-winning side in 2011, scoring six goals and registering 17 assists in all competitions.
In 2012 he joined Chelsea but was loaned out to Werder Bremen, scoring 10 goals and making 10 assists in 34 appearances, before being sold to Wolfsburg for €20m (Dh82m) in January 2014.
At the time, Jose Mourinho said he had been “an upset kid, training very bad and not ready to compete” but with 33 assists in 72 appearances he has put the doubts of the Chelsea manager to rest, helping Wolfsburg to second in the Bundesliga and thence into the same group as Manchester United in the Champions League.
Kompany has no doubt he will prove a success. “You’ve all been there — you compare yourself at the age of 18 or 20 to when you grow up, you change as a person,” said the defender.
“He’s become the best player in Germany and we all know what great players play in the German league, so that says enough, that’s enough pressure as it is. To achieve something like that is pretty unique.
“It’s a completely different style of football that we play and certain players are better fitted to certain clubs. That’s just the way it is.”
Asked if he offered advice to the club on De Bruyne, Kompany said: “They have a very good network of scouts and people who give them good advice, but my opinion was pretty clear — in private and publicly.
“He’s a player that I rate and other than that our team has had a tradition of welcoming many players over the years, so everything is going to be just like it was with Raheem [Sterling] and done in such a way that we’ll carry on from what we’ve been building so far.
“He’s the most English guy from the Belgian national team. If you go through his family line I think his grandfather lives in England, his mother is virtually English. He could have played for England if you’d spotted him earlier.”
— Guardian News & Media Ltd, 2015
