Man City's Kevin De Bruyne continues to justify fee after star showing against Southampton

Kevin De Bruyne celebrates after scoring against Southampton

IT IS difficult to ever consider a £54million transfer fee a "bargain" but Kevin De Bruyne is wasting no time justifying the huge fee with seven goals and eight assists in his first 14 starts for Manchester City.

 

And he believes he will improve further once he is in tandem with David Silva, who returned from a nine-game injury absence with a late substitute appearance against Southampton.

So far, the two playmakers have been on the pitch together for only 174 minutes but De Bruyne said: "It's good for us that David is coming back. We play almost at the same position but we are very different players.

"I'm more direct than him, he can keep the ball a little bit more than me, so the two [qualities] together that's an advantage, we can switch different things."

 

Asked if his spell at Chelsea has helped him settle so quickly since his switch from Wolfburg in the summer, De Bruyne, who scored City's first and made the others for Fabian Delph and Aleksandar Kolarov, said: "I don't know - I just feel free in my head. I'm happy, I came here in a good condition and everything felt right here straight away. So I just want to try and maintain this level for as long as possible."

Sergio Aguero, just back from five weeks out with a hamstring injury, has given City another injury scare.

He limped off with an ankle injury and will miss tomorrow's Capital One Cup quarter-final with Hull.