De Bruyne: I thought Sterling would be a bit of a d***head when I joined City

Kevin De Bruyne has claimed he thought Raheem Sterling might have been a bit of a 'd***head' before he met him at Manchester City owing to what he had read in the press.

De Bruyne moved to City from Wolfsburg back in 2015, just a month after Sterling had moved to Manchester from Liverpool and admitted he believed the media coverage of the England international had painted him as ostentatious or showy.

He believed that they had both been subjected to unfair treatment. De Bruyne thought he had been dubbed a Chelsea 'reject', while Sterling was the 'flashy' guy who left Liverpool for money.

But the Belgium midfielder has revealed just how much the pair's relationship has flourished in Manchester and hailed him as one of the humblest men in football.

‘Before I came to Manchester City, I didn’t really know what to make of this Raheem Sterling guy,' he told the Players Tribune. I had never met him, and from what I’d read about him in the English press, I thought he was going to be a very different character.

‘I didn’t think he’d be a bad guy, really. But the tabloids were always claiming that he was arrogant. So I guess I thought he’d be… what do the English call it? A bit of a d***head, maybe?'

He added: ‘But over time, I got closer to Raheem, because our sons were born around the same time, so they would always play together. I really got to know Raheem, and I recognised what a smart and genuine person he is.

'He couldn’t be more different from what the tabloids were saying. This is the real truth: Raheem is one of the nicest, most humble guys I’ve met in football.'