Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne may be the next Colin Bell... Jose Mourinho will be kicking himself for being the man to let him leave Chelsea

• e-mail

Colin Bell was the best I ever played with, but Kevin De Bruyne is as good as Bell if not better — and that’s a hell of a statement coming from me.

He’s the total player. When he plays well — and he does most weeks — Manchester City play well. He can make anything happen. De Bruyne cost £55million but when you think what Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba (£89m) across the road, he was an absolute steal.

Jose Mourinho sold him at Chelsea and I bet he’s kicking himself now when he sees what De Bruyne is doing for City. He was a young man then but he did well playing in Germany and City are seeing the rewards.

Kevin De Bruyne could be well on his way to making history with Manchester City

Jose Mourinho must kick himself for letting him leave Chelsea, a tarnish on his legacy

He scores goals, makes them and he’s got great vision. Good stamina, too. Colin Bell could run all day long and not have a bead of sweat on him, but De Bruyne has a great engine.

We were purring over the second goal against Stoke. Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles used to play the reverse pass, but you don’t see many players do it these days.

The weight of De Bruyne’s ball into Leroy Sane and deft touch while looking the other way were magnificent. And you won’t see a better pass all season than the one to Sane for goal No 6, curling the ball through three or four defenders.

The Belgian midfielder looks as good as, if not better than club legend Colin Bell

With quality players you can do anything and I’ve not seen a City team like this in the modern era. It’s a throwback to the team of the mid-Seventies that I played in. We were in Europe and finished a point behind Liverpool in 1977. 

I was brought up watching Bell, Franny Lee and Mike Summerbee in the late Sixties and I just wish my dad was alive today to see this because he was a bit of a purist. 

On their day, City are the best team in the country. They just have too much skill and guile and they go for the jugular. There’s really only United who can stop them. The two Manchester clubs could clean up.

City look a more complete team this year and the balance is perfect. I like the fact that they have pace out wide and full backs coming up as well. Pep Guardiola has instilled what he wants and the players have got the message. 

They all want to stay in the side because they’re enjoying it so much. If you can’t enjoy your football in that team, when can you?

De Bruyne laid on four assists for his team-mates during the 7-2 romp over Stoke City