Michael Brown has been speaking about Kevin De Bruyne, who made his return for Manchester City in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Huddersfield.
The 46-year-old spoke on commentary duty for BBC Radio 5 Live during the 5-0 victory.
So, what did Michael Brown say about Kevin De Bruyne? Let’s take a look…
What Michael Brown said about Kevin De Bruyne
Well, the man who made 99 appearances for Manchester City believes the Belgium international has returned to action looking more muscly than before his hamstring injury.
Brown said: “When you are out for such a long time you do more gym work so Kevin de Bruyne does look a bit bulkier.
“When the game was won it was a good time to get him on, he could just feel his way into it. He got on the ball under pressure at times and made some good passes too. You have to tread with caution here, it is going to take a number of weeks for him to get back going.”
Brown makes a wise point about De Bruyne at the end there.
Pep Guardiola is likely to be under a lot of pressure from supporters to start his No.17 following the Belgian’s return from injury.
However, the Spaniard and his staff must ignore outside noise and do what is best for De Bruyne, or else Manchester City risk losing the 32-year-old for another lengthy period of time.
How Kevin De Bruyne performed on Manchester City return
De Bruyne wasted next to no time in returning to his creative ways.
It took the Manchester City No.17 just 15 minutes to provide an assist for Jeremy Doku.
Even without that setup, no player across Europe has registered more assists than De Bruyne since the start of last season, a mind boggling statistic given the fact the £55m man has missed five months of action.
As shown by SofaScore, the Drongen-born maestro also completed 28 of his attempted 35 passes with a success rate of 80% – taking 46 touches while also winning a freekick.
Hopefully, De Bruyne remains available to Guardiola for the rest of the season – it would be a real punch in the gut to see him sidelined again.
