Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has heaped praise on one of his young teammates.

Kevin De Bruyne believes Phil Foden is one of the brightest talents he has ever played alongside, which is quite the compliment from a man who has teamed with plenty of excellent footballers.

Foden joined City aged four and rose through the ranks before being promoted to the first team while still a teenager by Pep Guardiola. The Blues boss nurtured the starlet for years, resisting growing calls to either play him more or send him out on loan, and now he has matured into one of the most exciting young players on the planet.

Capable of playing in midfield or attack and now a near-guaranteed starter, Foden is realising his potential and De Bruyne is massively impressed. “He is still that young boy who just loves to play football,” the Belgian told City’s in-house media. “Every time you see a ball running around, he is running to it.

“Sometimes it is different with other players, but he is probably one of the biggest talents that I have played with and his ceiling can be so high.

“He has already won four Premier Leagues and he is 22. He is doing well for himself. He is very smart as a player. Where there are a lot of tactics, you still have that guy who has that little bit of magic and he is one of these guys who has that magic so he can just do a lot of different stuff.”

Still just 22 and with the world at his feet, De Bruyne predicts Foden will go on to achieve astonishing things in his career. He continued: “[He can achieve] whatever he wants. The ceiling is so high. He has already done so much at that age playing for a team like us who have to win all of the time.

“He is competing and playing most of the games. He can do that for the next 15 years if he wants to and then he can be whatever he wants.”

Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk