Vincent Kompany has made no secret, publicly or privately, of his desire to have Kevin De Bruyne alongside him at Manchester City.
A player that provides “something special” is how the captain of the Etihad outfit described his Belgium team-mate, who became the club’s record £51 million signing from German side Wolfsburg on Sunday.
De Bruyne joins as Germany’s Football of the Year and Kompany has no doubt the 24-year-old will help City compete for the Premier League title and in the Champions League, where they have been drawn in a tough group with Juventus, Sevilla and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
He also believes De Bruyne is a far different player and person to the one who joined Chelsea as a 20-year-old in 2012 from Genk – and will be better suited to sparkle at City.
Blues boss Jose Mourinho claimed De Bruyne was “crying” for a move, hinting at a weak mentality because he was not a first-team regular.
He made nine appearances, including just two league starts, in a frustrating time at Stamford Bridge and was sent on loan to Genk and Werder Bremen before Wolfsburg bought him for £18m in January, 2014.
But Kompany said: “You’ve all been there. You compare yourself at the age of 18 or 20 to when you grow up, you change as a person.
“He’s become the best player in Germany and we all know what great players play in the German league so that says enough. That’s enough pressure as it is.
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“To achieve something like that is pretty unique. You grow up, you mature and it’s a completely different style of football that we play. Certain players are better fitted to certain clubs, that’s just the way it is.”
De Bruyne’s deal will top the £49m fee City paid Liverpool for another attacker, Raheem Sterling, in the summer.
And, having seen Sterling open his goal account in a 2-0 win over Watford on Saturday that set a new club record of 10 in succession, Kompany says big money is needed to land the best players.
“I don’t know the figures, but all I can say is I suppose you shouldn’t focus on numbers too much anymore,” he added.
“If a player can improve a squad that bit more, then the value is very difficult to assess because there’s so much competition to get the top players. That dictates it really.
“I think they (City) have a very good network of scouts and people who give them good advice, but my opinion [on Kevin] was pretty clear – in private and publicly.
“He’s the most English guy from the Belgian national team. If you go through his family line I think his grandfather lives in England, his mother is virtually English.
“He’s a player that I rate and other than that our team has had a tradition of welcoming many players over the years so everything is going to be just like it was with Raheem and done in such a way that we’ll carry on from what we’ve been building so far.
“He’s a tremendous talent. What he gives you … he’s just got so many assists and goals in him, it doesn’t really matter how the game goes for him, he’s always making decisive plays.
Man City investment in De Bruyne including transfer fee + wages for 6-year contract: £138m / €190m / $212m.
— sportingintelligence (@sportingintel) August 30, 2015
“Over the course of the season that’s ultimately what you pay for – more goals, more assists. He’s just got something special.
“He’s a game-changer, definitely. We’ve got so many to be honest – Samir [Nasri], Raheem [Sterling], Kun [Aguero], David [Silva], Yaya [Toure].
“It’s a long season, the club is really ambitious and the squad wants to do well.
“You’ve seen the Champions League draw we’ve had, we always seem to attract the interesting groups so there’s no way that the same team, the same guys are going to carry the team throughout this whole phase. So you need the players [like this].”
While De Bruyne will help strengthen a City attack that has already scored 10 goals in their first four games, Kompany is equally delighted at the statistic of four clean sheets for the table-toppers.
And with a visit to in-form Crystal Palace to come after the international break, he said they will look to maintain impressive form that has left boss Manuel Pellegrini in a good mood.
“For a dead man walking, eh?” he said, referring to the speculation he would be sacked this summer before signing a new deal.
And centre-back Kompany, 29, added: “I think the main thing I’ve seen this season is just an extreme amount of focus around the dressing room.
“No satisfaction whatsoever out of the first four wins. It’s nice for the defenders, for the strikers, for the club and fans but nothing more than that.
“We’ve got a very tricky away game at Palace [next]. We’ve all seen what they’ve done to Chelsea [by beating them 2-1].
“But it’s good. You play Everton away and West Brom away – very tricky away games – and win so now it’s to Palace. It’s good to get those games out of the way and negotiate them in the way we have done.
“Of course it’s nice to score goals and win games, but we take a lot of pride out of the clean sheets and helping win games that way. It’s good at the moment. We’ve prepared well and we just have to carry on.”
