Manchester City have had a plethora of special players to have represented them over the years.
It is difficult to look past City’s highest-ever goalscorer, Sergio Aguero, who earned praise from Virgil van Dijk for being one of the toughest opponents he has ever come up against.
Roy Keane was in awe of David Silva, another former Manchester City player who tormented his opponents.
Alongside Aguero and Silva, Kevin De Bruyne has a strong case for being the best player to have ever donned the famous sky blue strip as his time at the club speaks for itself.
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Xavi claimed Kevin De Bruyne was Man City’s Lionel Messi
Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez has perhaps kept one eye on Manchester City over the years due to his former manager Pep Guardiola’s presence in the Premier League.
In 2023, Xavi revealed he wanted to sign Bernardo Silva while managing the Spanish giants as well.
While Xavi lauded Joao Cancelo when he worked alongside him at Barcelona.
In an interview with Qatar Airways’ YouTube channel in 2020, the four-time Champions League winner claimed that De Bruyne was Manchester City’s very own Lionel Messi, saying: “Pep’s teams win as teams but even the most special sides need that player to look to when they need something special.”
“At Barcelona, we had it with Messi and this team, Manchester City have it with De Bruyne. Every time he has the ball, you get the feeling that he is going to do something special with it.”
Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi almost played together at Man City
Being compared to arguably the greatest player to have ever played the game in Messi in any sense would have been an honour for De Bruyne, especially considering it was the Argentine’s former teammate Xavi who drew the parallel.
With the Spaniard being one of the best players in the history of football as well, the Belgian would have had every reason to be smiling from ear to ear.
De Bruyne could have played alongside Messi, who almost joined Manchester City in 2020.
Pep Guardiola even held a face-to-face conversation with the World Cup, who reportedly had no problems adjusting to the rainy weather with Manchester and the two-time treble-winner’s grueling training regime.
However, Messi ultimately decided to sign a new contract before signing for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Manchester City fans would have hoped to see De Bruyne and Messi play together as the pair are possibly the two best creators to have graced the game in the past two decades.
