Kevin De Bruyne has ambitions to become the best player in the world after making changes to his game when injured.

After the heartbreak of being substituted early in the Champions League final when a long-standing hamstring problem finally caught up, De Bruyne pushed for an earlier-than-expected return but suffered a recurrence of the injury on the opening night of the Premier League season. . He was forced to withdraw from the win over Burnley after just 23 minutes.

The fact that Pep Guardiola has had to cope without the 32-year-old for so long has reminded everyone that De Bruyne cannot go on forever; while he will travel with the team to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup, he is not expected to be fit again until mid-January at the earliest. However, the Belgian player has no intention of slowing down in the near future. If anything, he has used his time on the sidelines to try to improve further.

“I want to be the best. It just doesn’t stop. I want to be in the best team, I want to be the best player in the world,” he said. “I stay motivated every day.

“Even when I was out of action for four months, I still tried to find ways to change myself as a player so I could still do what I did before. I’m sure I’ll be fine when I return to the field. I hope to continue playing. Play beautiful football and that’s enough.”