Raheem Sterling has compared his Manchester City team-mate Kevin De Bruyne to Luis Suárez, saying the Belgian’s abililty to make and score goals is reminiscent of his former Liverpool team-mate.
“With Suárez, once he got in and around the box, you knew what he was capable of doing – usually it ended with a goal,” Sterling said. “It’s the same with Kevin, he looks for other players … look at the assists he’s got already and he’s got goals in him regularly as well.”
De Bruyne scored twice in City’s 4-1 victory over Hull City in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday and once in the previous match, a 3-1 win at home to Southampton. He has made six assists in the Premier League this season, behind only Arsenal’s Mesut Özil, who has 11.
“Every team needs a player like that,” said Sterling, who has been impressed by De Bruyne’s contribution since the former Chelsea player arrived from Wolfsburg in August. De Bruyne made only nine appearances for Chelsea in a two-year spell from January 2012 which included a loan at Werder Bremen.
“I didn’t see him much at Chelsea to be honest,” Sterling said. “Not many of us did. But if you saw him in Germany, the number of goals he was involved in, it was obvious he had quality. It’s always a test for players to come to England, play regularly and contribute but that’s what he’s done. Credit to him, he’s been incredible.”
