by Kevin De Bruyne has revealed how his five-month injury ruled out the rare chance of a complete mental and physical “reset” which he believes could benefit Manchester City in their pursuit of more silverware.
De Bruyne made his first appearance since the opening day of the season in August when he came on as a second-half substitute in City’s 5-0 FA Cup third-round win over Huddersfield Town on Sunday.
The Belgian midfielder, who underwent surgery on a ruptured hamstring, says he has used the time off to fully recalibrate and ensure he is in peak mental and physical condition for the second half of the campaign and winners Last season’s treble aiming for an all-time best of fourth. Back-to-back Premier League and Champions League titles.
“It’s not like I needed a break, but I took it and turned a disadvantage into an advantage,” he said.
“When I think about my career, playing non-stop for the last 10 years with a short break, maybe it was good for me to reset a bit in a way and take care of myself when it’s not possible actually during the year.
“I was hoping to be able to work hard and come back in a good way and I feel like I’m doing that, but obviously I have to make progress.
“I enjoyed [the time off] in a way. It was a big blow at first, but I knew I was going to be out for four or five months.”
De Bruyne said the opportunity to spend more time with his wife Michele Lacroix and their three young children, Mason, Rome and Suri, was invaluable.
“Maybe it was good to refresh a little bit – no new hobbies, but it was nice to take my son and daughter to their practices and see their games, what they do ,” he said.
“I could go on holiday, which is usually not possible during the year. On the side, I also worked hard.
“When you have three kids between three and seven [there is] not much [you can do] – Basically I’m a taxi driver!
“But I enjoyed it. I think they enjoyed dad being able to watch the games and now it’s going to be harder for the abuser and everyone to work around the board.”
De Bruyne was forced off after 36 minutes of the Champions League final win over Inter Milan in June when the player said he was done after spending months dealing with problems with them.
‘I had so much scar tissue it could snap at any time’
However, De Bruyne returned for pre-season and played 26 minutes in the Community Shield against Arsenal before starting the league opener at Burnley, only for his fragile hamstrings to give way early in the game.
The Belgian has disputed suggestions he was brought back too soon, but admits the hamstrings in his right leg were not the prettiest of pictures.
“Whenever I was training in Japan [on City’s pre-season tour] or for the Community Shield and Burnley, everything was fine,” he said.
“I had three strings in a row, but they weren’t near the same place. I had so much scar tissue that it could snap at any moment.
“People said I returned too quickly but when you train three weeks in a row without any problems, it was fine. I played against Arsenal for 40 minutes or so but then after Burnley it [surgery] just have to do.”
City have just two league games this month – Newcastle on Saturday and Burnley on January 31 – as well as an FA Cup quarter-final, and De Bruyne says the schedule allows him to ease his way back.
‘I’m still nowhere near where I need to be’
“It was a big operation and I worked hard and I’m happy to be back,” said De Bruyne, who set up Jeremy Doku for City’s fifth goal against Huddersfield. “I felt good [against Huddersfield] so I’m happy about that, but I’m still nowhere near where I need to be. It is a good continuation of the process of the last few weeks.
“There will be moments. At the beginning when I was training I was getting tired, but the last few weeks have been fine and today I feel fine.
“I’m very happy with the way it went. I feel good, the movements were good, I felt comfortable with what I was doing. That was really all I was looking for.
“There will be moments where I want to play every game, but I know in the back of my mind that I have to take care of myself.
“We haven’t really had that conversation [with manager Pep Guardiola about minutes]. January is good where we have fewer games. I’m not expecting to play too many games and Newcastle is a big game next week so I’ll be hoping to be back on the bench.
“If they want me or if they want to give me minutes then so be it, but then [there’s] another two weeks before each other [league] game so it’s a different momentum so we’ll see how it goes.”
