Jamie Redknapp labelled Kevin De Bruyne the world’s best midfielder and said Man City have the treble in their own hands on the latest edition of Essential Football.
De Bruyne was the architect of City’s significant victory over leaders Arsenal on Wednesday night, scoring twice and making another in a 4-1 win which means six more from their final seven games will be enough to secure the Premier League trophy for a third successive year.
The Belgian’s quality has been no secret for most of his eight-year spell at the Etihad Stadium, but he did lose his place in Pep Guardiola’s side earlier in the season. With the 31-year-old firmly back on top form now, Redknapp told Essential Football he is unmatched in his position at the top of the world’s game – and in Premier League history.
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“It’s tough, I’m going to be talking about family because there’s never going to be a better goalscoring Premier League midfielder than Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard was Roy of the Rovers, Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, all brilliant players,” he said.
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“But I just feel with all his attributes, I’ve never seen anyone pass the ball so beautifully. His football IQ, the way he sees gaps and threads through passes with such pinpoint accuracy, I haven’t seen it before. The goals he scores, he’s a beautiful striker of the ball; for me, he’s the greatest.
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“A lot of people talk about Paul Scholes, and they’ve got a very similar way they see the game – he wasn’t blessed with blistering pace, he wasn’t the most mobile. But his brain was just so good, and when you had to play against him he’d challenge you in so many different ways.
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insists the Premier League title race is still on, despite Wednesday’s win over league leaders Arsenal.
“If you gave him space he’d hit a 30-yard cross-field pass, if you got too tight he’d play little one-twos around you. That’s the same with Gerrard and Lampard. All these players had these attributes that made them great, but Kevin De Bruyne has all of them.
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“His football brain and IQ make him No 1 for me, and hopefully we can find a little bit more about what makes him tick because every young footballer should watch him and the way he plays in midfield.
“When he has the ball, it doesn’t matter if he’s at full pelt or the game is slow, he always manages to find the right pass. I always remember Steven Gerrard, the first thing that stood out to me the first time I trained with him was his speed. He had this amazing pace over 10 or 15 yards which not many midfielders possess.
“He didn’t look like he was going that fast because he had ’10 to 2′ feet, a little bit like De Bruyne has, but he’s so quick. The goal he scored the other day, he burst away from Thomas Partey and went past Rob Holding and hit this breathtaking inside of the foot finish. It was him at his blistering best. Right now, he’s the best midfield player in the world.”
Redknapp suggested Guardiola’s man management earlier in the campaign had served to get the best out of City’s creative lynchpin, who has now racked up 16 assists and seven goals in the Premier League this season.
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“I like the way he was challenged by Pep Guardiola earlier in the season, I’d like to ask him about that,” he said.
“Something was a bit amiss, Pep wasn’t quite happy with his performances and everyone was talking about Odegaard being the best at the time, but just when they’ve needed it most it’s like he’s got that drive again and he’s unstoppable now.
“I love that position he plays just in behind Haaland, and it was nice to see Haaland setting up goals for him as well too.”
‘Treble in City’s hands after Arsenal win’
That victory over Arsenal was Man City’s seventh in a row in the Premier League, with Guardiola’s side again hitting form at crunch time in the season to move within touching distance of a Premier League rarity – a third trophy lift in succession.
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Fulham manager Marco Silva admits Manchester City might be the best team in the world and says they are ‘clearly’ the best team in the Premier League.
More widely, City are fast closing in on a historic treble including the Champions League and FA Cup, a feat achieved only once in English football history by Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous side of 1998/99.
Though they will need to take revenge on Champions League holders Real Madrid in the upcoming semi-finals to make that a reality – as well as beating United in next month’s FA Cup final – Redknapp said he could not see beyond Guardiola leading his team to all three trophies.
“Talking about the treble, I think after last year when Man City somehow lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League when it was in their hands, I can’t see anything but a City win in that,” he said.
“I can’t really see them losing the FA Cup final playing against a Man Utd team with a few defensive injuries. Then you look at the Premier League, it feels like everything is in their hands. I have nothing but respect for what they’re doing, the way they play, the way Pep gets the best out of them.
“The Champions League is the one Pep wants the most, and what might happen – not that I think it will – is if he rests a few players and they end up losing it, that might be the only thing that could happen. He’s got to keep everybody fresh for what’s an important few months for the club, and it’s where managers can come unstuck.”
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