'Could snap at any moment' - Man City star Kevin De Bruyne reveals battered state of hamstring pre-surgery as he admits he's taken no pleasure in watching Pep Guardiola's side from the sofa

De Bruyne made his first appearance in almost five months when he came off the bench in the 5-0 hammering of Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, after undergoing surgery in August to treat his ruptured hamstring. He took little time to get his first assist of the season, setting up Jeremy Doku. The Belgian spoke of his joy at returning to action after the game and admitted it was only a matter of time before he seriously injured the hamstring, which he also aggravated during the Champions League final.

"I had three hamstrings [injuries] in a row but they were nowhere near the same place. I had so much scar tissue that it could snap at any moment," De Bruyne told reporters. "People said I returned too quickly but when you train three weeks in a row without any issue it was fine. I played against Arsenal for 40 minutes or so but then after Burnley it just needed to be done."

City coped well without De Bruyne, winning their first six Premier League games of the season before having a brief slump in form. But they are now clicking into gear again and his return comes just as they are preparing their assault on the Premier League title and looking to repeat their incredible success of last season. De Bruyne revealed how hard it was to watch City's games while he was recovering.

"No. I can watch whatever football and I watched every game but I don't like it," De Bruyne added. "They've obviously been alright. After the year we had last year there will be ups and downs but most of the games except for Villa and maybe Wolves we did fairly well. We are there with the other teams. If you're here with all the teams around you're not going to be far away. We are where we need to be, but we need to try and continue that."

Since the start of last season, De Bruyne has provided 30 assists in all competitions, more than any other player in Europe's top-five leagues. Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is second with 24.

De Bruyne is unlikely to start City's next match away to Newcastle as Pep Guardiola is careful to avoid him suffering a relapse of the injury, although he could feature again from the bench. He and City will then head off on a warm-weather training camp to Abu Dhabi where he can get match sharp again ahead of their home with Burnley on January 31.