Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is happy to have taken full part in his sides pre-season preparations after an injury-plagued campaign last time out.
The Belgium international suffered persistent knee and muscle injuries last season, which stopped the 27-year-old from reaching the world-class levels of performance he displayed during City’s 2017/18 Premier League triumph.
De Bruyne has looked razor-sharp during City’s pre-season outings and speaking to the press after his sides 3-1 win over Yokohama F Marinos in Japan, the talented midfielder admitted he is feeling good ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
“I’m fine. What happened last year happens to everybody. I have been a professional for 11 years now and had one season where I had some injuries,” De Bruyne said.
“But by the end of the year I still played 32 games while a lot of players only do that every year. I just get on with it.
“Now I feel good. I’m happy I could play a whole pre-season. I’ve played four games.”
Yokohama F Marinos are one of Man City‘s sister clubs, and De Bruyne was impressed with the J-League side, adding that he felt it was an important game for Pep Guardola’s side in terms of increasing their match sharpness.
“I was very impressed how Yokohama played,” he added.
“They’re right in the middle of their season so physically they are much better than us and they gave us a good game.
“I’m happy with the way we performed here. We’ve had a tough schedule the past two weeks. We needed this game to get more rhythm and it was a good game to end the pre-season.”
Sterling reveals Premier League glory and not Champions League is Man City’s ‘main objective’
Read: Top five ‘where were you’ moments in Premier League history
See also: Sectarianism, betrayal and a pig’s head – The most controversial transfers in football history
