Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola labels Kevin De Bruyne "one of the most talented players he has ever seen"

Pep Guardiola has labelled Kevin De Bruyne one of the most talented players he has seen in his life and an incredible example to the Manchester City Academy.

The Belgian has showed graft as well as craft as City’s marathon man atop of their running charts, having clocked up a staggering 288 kilometres this season.

And Guardiola says the Belgium playmaker is a great example to everyone at City because of the hard work he produces.

“I don’t have words to express my gratitude first of all as his manager,” said the Catalan. “My example is my words, but the players’ examples are the facts, and one of the best players we have is the guy who runs the most and fights the most.

“He’s an incredible example for the rest of the players, for the Academy and for the guys.

“He’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in my life and without the ball, he makes the kind of intensity we have.”

Guardiola claims Manchester City No 1 Ederson is already one of the world’s best goalkeepers.

Ederson solved City’s long-running problems in goal overnight when he arrived from Benfica and the outstanding Brazilian has kept 15 clean sheets in his 32 appearances.

He made two world-class saves against Burnley last Saturday and Guardiola is impressed most by his coolness.

“He’s one of the top,” said the City boss. “At that age, he has a desire to improve and in the next years he will become an extraordinary goalkeeper.

“The most important thing from my point of view, is he is so calm. When he concedes a goal, he is quiet. When he makes an extraordinary save, he is quiet.

“His reaction is the same, he’s stable. He’s still young at 24 and he has to improve a lot of things. He’s already for me one of the best in the world and in the future, he will be stronger.

“We are so happy with Ederson.”