Anderson reveals De Bruyne influence
Manchester City finally unveiled Elliot Anderson yesterday, and the new arrival did not waste time in naming the player who shaped his football education. Kevin De Bruyne, the man whose 422 appearances in blue established him as a genuine Premier League great, was the name on Anderson's lips.
The England international came through Newcastle's academy watching the Belgian from afar. He admitted as much in his first public comments as a City player.
“I think Kevin De Bruyne is someone who I’ve hugely looked up to over the past seven or eight years. As I came up through the academy at Newcastle, I always wanted to play like him. I’ve watched him all the time and to be sat here in the same team he was doing it for is so special.”
There is something quietly fitting about that. De Bruyne arrived at City with his own point to prove, transformed himself into the division's defining midfielder, and now leaves behind a template that the next generation are already trying to follow.
Anderson is contracted until 2031. The club have clearly invested in his potential, and the early signs suggest he understands exactly what he is walking into. He joins the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders at a moment of transition — Bernardo Silva and John Stones both departed this summer — and there will be opportunities for a midfielder who has modelled his game on the best.
The real work starts now. But for a player who spent his formative years studying De Bruyne's every touch, the setting could hardly feel more natural.