Legendary Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has credited the management of Pep Guardiola at Man City as the reason for Kevin de Bruyne turning into one of the world's best players.
Drogba played alongside De Bruyne towards the end of his time at Chelsea but the Belgian was a very different player to the one he is know.
The Blues' midfield maestro struggled to break through to the first team after never being given a proper chance by Jose Mourinho.
De Bruyne would leave the London club for Germany, initially on loan to Werder Bremen and then permanently to Wolfsburg, where he excelled.
He played so well in the Bundesliga that City were willing to splash nearly £70m to secure his signature and it's certainly been money well spent.
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Drogba believes that the 27-year-old has gotten ever better under the stewardship of Guardiola.
"I think for Kevin he was really young, and in the team, we had all these big names," the Ivorian told Goal.
"He decided to go and play. In football, it is straightforward, the more you play, the better you become. The more you can understand the game, the more you can read the game and become confident.
"That’s exactly what happened with him. When you have a manager like Guardiola who is helping him to understand and read the game faster, wow, he has become a different player."
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Drogba also spoke highly of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, who has also gone onto do great things after not getting a chance at Chelsea.
He said: "When you see those two players, you are very happy to see the way they improved and became leaders in their own teams."
De Bruyne and Salah are competing against each other in one of the most competitive title races in years and Drogba admits he isn't sure who's going to come out on top.
"I don’t know," he said "but it is going to be very interesting. I am going to follow it to the end. There will be more things happening for sure."
