"It's tough" - Jamie Redknapp makes bold Kevin De Bruyne claims amid comparisons with Frank Lampard and Steven GerrardÂ
Jamie Redknapp has named Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne as the greatest Premier League midfielder. He believes that the Belgian can score like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard while also doing much of the work done by Patrick Viera and Roy Keane.
De Bruyne has been in top form this season and has seven goals, along with 16 assists in the league. He has matched Lampard's tally of 102 assists and could overtake Wayne Rooney with two more.
However, the Belgian has scored just 64 goals in his time in the league. Redknapp still claims that there is no one better than the Manchester City star to have operated the midfield in the league.
He said on the Essential Football podcast:
"It's tough, I'm going to be talking about family because there's never going to be a better goalscoring Premier League midfielder than Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard was Roy of the Rovers, Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, all brilliant players. But I just feel with all his attributes, I've never seen anyone pass the ball so beautifully. His football IQ, the way he sees gaps and threads through passes with such pinpoint accuracy, I haven't seen it before. The goals he scores, he's a beautiful striker of the ball; for me, he's the greatest."
What makes Kevin De Bruyne better than Paul Scholes?
Jamie Redknapp went on to talk about why he preferred De Bruyne over Paul Scholes and claimed that the Belgian had better pace and was more agile.
He continued:
"A lot of people talk about Paul Scholes, and they've got a very similar way they see the game - he wasn't blessed with blistering pace, he wasn't the most mobile. But his brain was just so good, and when you had to play against him he'd challenge you in so many different ways. If you gave him space he'd hit a 30-yard cross-field pass, if you got too tight he'd play little one-twos around you. That's the same with Gerrard and Lampard. All these players had these attributes that made them great, but Kevin De Bruyne has all of them."
Kevin De Bruyne has played a key role in helping Manchester City this season and could lift his fifth Premier League title.