Manchester City have had a very strong start to their latest Premier League campaign.
After becoming the first side to win four consecutive league titles last season, City are on their way to potentially winning a fifth.
With four games played, Pep Guardiola’s side have won all four, making them the only side in the division with a 100% win record heading into the fifth week of fixtures.
One player from City’s squad who has played a big role in getting the Blues to where they are is Erling Haaland.
Specifically, having started all four league matches, the striker has scored nine goals, which is more than every other side in the Premier League has been able to.
Despite that, one pundit and former City player has claimed that another figure in Guardiola’s side has been just as good as the Norwegian this term.
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Micah Richards claims Kevin De Bruyne has been as good as Erling Haaland this season
After seeing City draw 0-0 with Inter Milan in their first Champions League game of the season on Wednesday night, Micah Richards had this to say in a recent episode of The Rest Is Football about Kevin De Bruyne and the suspected injury he picked up in midweek.
He said: “I think [Kevin] De Bruyne, I know a lot of people talk about Haaland and his goalscoring record at the start of the season, but I think De Bruyne has been in equally as good form, that we’ve seen at the start of the season.
“So to lose him is obviously gutting, a little bit gutting, but you know, [Phil] Foden’s return is a great positive.”
De Bruyne has been solid this season
Prior to the West Ham United game, Kevin Nolan claimed that De Bruyne is up there alongside Steven Gerrard as being the best midfielder the Premier League has ever seen.
Having started and completed the full 90 minutes in three of City’s four league games this season, De Bruyne has scored one goal and delivered one assist.
Despite that, the midfielder has made more key passes (16) and shot-creating actions (28) than any other player at City, as well as having the second-highest total of shots at goal (14) behind Haaland (19).
While Haaland has undoubtedly gathered all the headlines because of his impressive goalscoring, Richards is right to highlight how effective De Bruyne has been this season as well.
