Saturday 5 December 2015 12:26, UK
Kevin De Bruyne has admitted he did not to expect to play as much as he has for Manchester City following his big-money summer move from Wolfsburg.
The Belgium international moved to the Etihad for £54.5m - the second highest transfer fee ever paid by a British club - and was immediately thrust into action for his City debut following an injury to Sergio Aguero his side's 1-0 over Crystal Palace in early September.
Since then, the 24-year-old, who put pen-to-paper on a six-year deal to join the Premier League leaders, has gone on to feature a further 17 times for City in all competitions, starting 14 games and scoring nine goals.
But despite the excellent start to his City career, De Bruyne, speaking exclusively to Soccer Saturday, was surprised by how much he featured for Manuel Pellegrini's side in the early stages of his time in Manchester.
"I didn't expect to play that much but we had a couple of injuries so I came into the side really early," said De Bruyne.
"Everything went well and physically I'm fine with no injuries. It's all going well for me.
"I knew already what level Manchester City was at," he added. "I played against a few of the players before and I've played with a few of them with the international team.
"Obviously, I knew certain players better than others but the team is really good.
"We are still in four competitions so as a team I think we are doing well. Hopefully, other players come back so that we can have an even stronger team."
De Bruyne was not the only big-money arrival at the Etihad this summer with Raheem Sterling moving to City from Liverpool for £49m back in July.
Sterling and De Bruyne have linked up to good effect since being paired together and the Belgian forward has been impressed with the England international since linking up with him.
"He's an incredible talent," De Bruyne said.
"He's only 20-years-old and if you are already at that level at that age you are going to be a great player. I think he has a really big career before him and I'm happy I'm playing with him.
"Hopefully we can have a couple of good years together."
Watch the full interview with Kevin De Bruyne on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports News HQ and Sky Sports 5 from 12pm.
