Kevin De Bruyne hails lack of egos in Manchester City squads as vital to success
By Carl Markham, PA
Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne believes a lack of egos in the dressing room has contributed to their major success over the last decade.
Since arriving at the Etihad in 2015 the Belgium international has won the Champions League, six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five League Cups.
During that period City have been able to boast a multi-talented squad – and for part of that time the manager widely considered to be the best in the world in Pep Guardiola.
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However, De Bruyne insists the attitude of the players has been an important reason for the extensive silverware , even if he admits there have been fallouts along the way.
“In the 10 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen many great players, but I’ve not seen many egos,” he told the Man City podcast.
“I feel like everybody knows that everybody’s important.
“I know that if I can’t play for three weeks and guy who plays in my position plays really good, he deserves it.
“So I need to know to handle myself in the right way towards my team-mates and everybody else to conduct yourself right on and off the pitch. It makes life so much easier.
“Sometimes there’s bust-ups, but there has to be arguments or fights or whatever, but it never goes outside and I love it.”
De Bruyne also spoke about the difficulties and unrealistic expectations he faced after a long injury lay-off last season following surgery on a hamstring injury.
“I feel like being out for six months, people think you come back and you’re going to be like this (perfect),” he added.
“Obviously, Newcastle (when he scored and assisted on his comeback) was great but then there were some games when my body was really hurting because I’ve not done this for six months.
“I knew that after these pains from coming back, I knew I needed a really good Euros where I was physically top and then a break.
“And now I feel I’m back to what I was before so let’s hope it keeps going.”
