Kevin De Bruyne has played his final game for Manchester City, and he’ll be leaving the club as a bona fide legend.
De Bruyne is City’s greatest ever player in the eyes of some, and the great thing about the Belgian is that he always made his teammates better too.
Erling Haaland wouldn’t score so many goals if it wasn’t for De Bruyne, and it’s the same story for Sergio Aguero before him.
There’s a reason Haaland loves playing with De Bruyne, and that’s because he’s a world-class creator.
Speaking on Men in Blazers, De Bruyne has been reminiscing about his time at City and some of his teammates during his time at the Etihad, and he actually named Raheem Sterling as the player he had the best connection with during his time at City.
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images
Kevin De Bruyne loved playing with Raheem Sterling
De Bruyne was asked which player during his time at City he had the best connection with.
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Of course, De Bruyne could’ve said Erling Haaland, Sergio Aguero or maybe even Phil Foden or Gabriel Jesus.
But according to the midfielder, Raheem Sterling was the player he had the best connection with at the Etihad.
“I would say the best connection in general, I would say Sterling. He was so, so smart, willing runner. You know, a lot of his goals is because he makes the right movements.
“Obviously, he’s probably not the best striker of a ball compared to Kun and Erling, but then I would say if you see the amount, it’s not even like passes to goals, but passes to dangerous actions. You know, he runs deep, plays who runs deep for me. That’s a gift, you know, for me, if I have willing runners around me, that makes my life so much easier, you know, and I think he was the player who was the most willing runner of everybody that I’ve played in my career, I would say.”
Kevin De Bruyne’s best Manchester City partnerships
De Bruyne says that he had the best connection with Sterling at City, and the numbers certainly back that up.
Indeed, in terms of joint-goal participations – one player assisting the other, De Bruyne combined with Sterling more often than any other City teammate.
Kevin De Bruyne’s best Manchester City partnerships Joint goal participations
Raheem Sterling 31
Gabriel Jesus 29
Erling Haaland 25
Sergio Aguero 23
Phil Foden 18
In terms of joint goal participations per game, Erling Haaland is the top dog on that front, but in terms of overall leaders in this tally, Sterling has been De Bruyne’s most prolific partner.
Sterling would eventually leave City for £50m to join Chelsea before an unsuccessful loan move to Arsenal this season.
De Bruyne is set to join Napoli this summer, and who knows? Perhaps Napoli may also want to have a look at Sterling and reunite this iconic duo.