Kevin De Bruyne “never expected” Manchester City to achieve such prolonged success

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Kevin de Bruyne said Manchester City exceeded his wildest expectations when he arrived and insisted this season has been “incredible” regardless of whether they win the Premier League or not.

The Belgian is on the verge of a sixth Premier League title in seven seasons as City need only beat West Ham at home on Sunday to become the first team to become English champions in four consecutive years.

De Bruyne, who joined from Wolfsburg in 2015, was part of a side that finished fourth in his first season and then third in Pep Guardiola’s debut campaign before going on to lift the annual honors .

And he said: “When I came here it was a very different team – a team full of legends who had won before and an older team. In Pep’s first season, a lot of people were in their 30s, so we needed a rebuild and I was probably one of the first pieces at the time. I never would have expected to win five titles or all the things I’ve done. It was pretty incredible.”

City did the treble last season and could do the double this year ahead of the FA Cup final against Manchester United next Saturday, and De Bruyne believes it has been an outstanding campaign, whatever happens from now on.

He explained: “People always talk about trophies, but we work for 11 months to get to this situation and if you don’t enjoy it along the way, what does it really mean? That one game – whether we win or not, it won’t change how I feel about how well we’ve done this season. I know there’s a lot of talk about it, but the way I see it is that this team has done incredibly well after the successes we’ve had over the last few years.”

De Bruyne missed five months of the campaign but was delighted with his performances since his return, adding: “I’m really happy with the season I’ve had after coming back from such a big injury.”

The City vice-captain set up Erling Haaland’s first goal in Tuesday’s crucial 2-0 win at Tottenham and feels the Norwegian has been underrated this season because of the standards he set last year when he scored 52 times in all competitions.

He said: “When he had the season he had last year and the numbers were so unbelievable and ridiculous. When you have a season where it’s a little less and people don’t appreciate what you’ve done. He now has 27 goals (league) and is likely to win the Golden Boot again. It’s incredible. He was amazing again and he will always do what he does.”