Our caretaker manager shared a dressing room with the influential Manchester City man 10 years ago, often vying for a spot in the Chelsea midfield, before the Belgian international moved on to Wolfsburg before returning to the Premier League with City.

Since then, he’s established himself as one of the best Premier League midfielders and is expected to feature for the hosts at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, when Lampard takes his Blues to take on Pep Guardiola’s league leaders.

Speaking ahead of the clash, Lampard had nothing but positive things to say about De Bruyne and praised the ‘hunger’ in him to make a success of his career.

‘I’ve always liked Kevin as a player,’ said Lampard on City’s midfielder. ‘I liked him when he was with us at Chelsea and we were team-mates and I like him now as a top-class midfield player.

‘When I think back to his time at Chelsea, at that time we were mainly playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, and I was playing a bit deeper as one of the two sixes. Kevin was fighting more for the No.10 position or one of the two wide players.

‘So I wouldn’t say we were particularly in competition for a place in the side, but you could see his quality.

‘Kevin’s a fantastic player and he’s become a top, top player for Manchester City over the past few years. He’s certainly going to be one of many threats we will have to plan for.

‘When he was with us in his younger days, we were probably quite well stacked in those attacking areas. Eden [Hazard] was here, [Andre] Schurrle was here, Juan Mata was here and what I remember from Kevin was a real hunger and desire to come in and play.

‘I don’t personally know the intricacies of what happened at the time between him, the club and the manager but looking back now I respect the fact he did leave to play regular football. You can see that hunger in his game and he’s always wanted to showcase that talent he’s got.

‘He’s gone from strength to strength, he’s had an incredible rise as a player and I love watching him play. To get the numbers he gets, through goals and assists from midfield is fantastic and his range of passing is amazing. If it’s not the best in the league, it’s certainly right up there.’