Chelsea
midfielder Cesc Fabregas says he hardly knew about Manchester City's Kevin
De Bruyne before this season, and has been surprised by his quality.
This weekend's
Saturday Night Football pits last year's champions
Chelsea against City, where Fabregas and De Bruyne will go up against each
other in midfield.
Chelsea paid £6.7m to Genk for De Bruyne in January 2012, but after only
nine appearances in all competitions, and just 132 minutes of Premier League
football, he was sold to Wolfsburg in January 2014 before joining City for
£55m in 2015.
Despite a recent 12-game absence with a knee injury, only Mesut Ozil and
Dimitri Payet have created more chances per 90 minutes than De Bruyne, who
has excelled in the Premier League.
Fabregas, speaking ahead of the release of the EA SPORTS FIFA 16 Ultimate
Team - Team of the Season, admits he knew little about the Belgium playmaker
before this season.
When asked if he has been impressed with De Bruyne's first season as a City
player, Fabregas said: "Yes, mostly because I hardly knew about him before
this season.
"I didn't really watch the German league in the few years he was there so
yes, he's impressed me because I didn't know that he had that much quality.
I think he fits in very well with Manchester City's footballing style."
Another man Chelsea will need to watch closely is Sergio Aguero, who has
scored 10 goals in his last 11 Premier League appearances.
Fabregas is well aware of Aguero's talents and thinks Chelsea will have to
employ "smart" tactics to stop him.
He said: "He's a very good player, he's been showing it for a few years now
in the Premier League and even before that in Spain and with the national
team, so we know what he can do.
"He's very fast, he loves to take on players, he's a natural goalscorer and
both the defenders and midfielders will have to be very compact to prevent
their midfielders from getting the ball to Sergio. We'll try to control the
game as well, to have possession and see if they can have less of the ball
and less chances."
Fabregas was speaking ahead of the launch of the EA SPORTS FIFA 16
Ultimate Team - Team of the Season, with the squads being released from
April 29th. To read the full interview, head to
https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/news/2016/fifa-16-cesc-fabregas-interview
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