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Eberechi Eze has named Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne as the toughest opponent he faced in the Premier League.
The 34-year-old ended a trophy-laden decade in Manchester, where he won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League, in the summer and left the Etihad for Serie A champions Napoli.
Eze, who joined Premier League leaders Arsenal from Crystal Palace during the window, reflected on his battles with the Belgian and admitted the midfielder often operated several steps ahead of everyone else.
'I'm gonna [Kevin] De Bruyne, [was the toughest opponent] you know, he told Adebayo Akinfenwa on GOAL's Beast Mode On podcast.
'To play the way he was playing, to do the things that he was doing for that amount of time, yeah, not easy. You can tell that he's a high-level thinker,' he said.
'These are the type of players I've looked up to from young, so definitely a special player.'
Eberechi Eze has named Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne as the toughest opponent he faced in the Premier League
The 34-year-old ended a trophy-laden decade in Manchester, where he won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League , in the summer
'Probably the player you're coming up against and you're like, 'he's got solutions to problems I hadn't even given him yet'. He's a special guy.'
Eze and De Bruyne's paths could have briefly crossed at the Etihad during the summer of 2024. At the time, De Bruyne entered the final year of his City contract with interest from the Saudi Pro League.
Eze was among the creative options discussed internally after establishing himself as one of the league's most effective attacking midfielders. Palace, however, were reluctant to lose another key player after selling Michael Olise to Bayern Munich and resisted any approach for Eze.
He remained in south London for the 2024-25 campaign, playing a key role in their FA Cup triumph over City, before securing a move to Arsenal the following summer.
De Bruyne ultimately stayed at City for one final season, before departing on a free transfer after his contract expired. He completed his move to Napoli in the summer of 2025 and made an immediate impact in Serie A.
The Belgian midfielder has scored four goals in his opening eight appearances for the defending Italian champions, quickly becoming central to their attacking structure.
However, his strong start was halted after he suffered a serious thigh injury while scoring a penalty in a 3-1 victory over Inter last month. The injury is expected to rule him out for the remainder of the calendar year.
