Frank Lampard has showered praise on his former teammate Kevin De Bruyne, labelling him as one of the Premier League's all-time best midfield players.
Lampard and De Bruyne shared the field during their time at Chelsea before the Belgian's move to Manchester City, where he went on to carve out a trophy-laden career in sky blue.
Having witnessed De Bruyne's exceptional skills firsthand during training sessions at Cobham, Lampard acknowledged the midfielder's quality. Lampard also expressed respect for De Bruyne's decision to leave Chelsea as he sought to fast-track his career.
"Kevin was clearly a quality player when he came to Chelsea as a young lad. It was obvious his levels in training," said Lampard to Mancity.com.
"But at the time, we had a lot of players in the area of the pitch that Kevin played. He found it hard to get into the team."
"Then you could sense Kevin’s frustration at that point. And I got it because I was a similar player – hungry and ambitious so I always had that if I wasn’t playing, it was written all over my face. It was written over Kevin’s face."
"He obviously left Chelsea probably because he was keen to get playing. And I respected that. Kevin was on a different pathway and wanted to get there quickly. From then to see his development into the player he is now has been very, very special. He’s so unique in terms of hitting his top levels so regularly."
"His understanding of the game, the goals he scores, his work ethic for the team, those have developed since I played with him obviously and we have all seen him become one of the greatest midfield players in the Premier League era, for sure."
