It’s not often we find ourselves writing about a rival player, but the trend is broken here – with Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois offering some thoughts on City’s signing of Kevin De Bruyne.

Courtois, a current national teammate of De Bruyne’s, has spoken glowingly of City’s new purchase after he starred for Belgium against Bosnia last night in a 3-1 win for the Red Devils.

De Bruyne, 24, grabbed an assist for Marouane Fellaini’s opener before getting on the scoresheet himself with a smart turn and low shot – incidentally past another Chelsea goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic.

And Courtois praised the player’s match-winning display, following a tough period with speculation surrounding his future.

Courtois had this to say about his teammate’s performance:

He shows his quality and mental strength that after two weeks of negotiation and difficult days he managed to play a very good game and he helped to secure us the victory.

De Bruyne, though yet to make his debut at City, finds himself a healthy eight points ahead of Courtois and despite the rivalry at the top, the former Atletico man admitted that he is keen to see another Genk youth product strut his stuff in the Premier League again.