Pep Guardiola is 'trying to flip' Kevin De Bruyne after Man City reveal - pundit
Alan Hutton has suggested Pep Guardiola is playing mind games with the Man City stars after his comments about Kevin De Bruyne.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Tottenham and Aston Villa right-back said Guardiola will be trying to spur on De Bruyne's teammates by saying the midfielder "is not playing at his best".
As quoted by the Daily Mail (22 October), the Cityzens boss said the 31-year-old "can be better" and insisted the Belgian is aware of that.
De Bruyne has made 15 appearances for the Sky Blues across all competitions so far this season.
In those outings he has scored two goals, the second came against Brighton on Saturday (22 October).
The Belgium international has also provided 11 assists in those games.
When asked if he thought the City boss was playing mind games with De Bruyne, Hutton told Football Insider: "He is probably trying to get into the heads of other players.
"He is trying to flip it round, De Bruyne is playing this well and he can only get better. For me he is an outstanding player, he just gets better and better. The link up play that you see with Haaland and these players is pivotal to what they do moving forward.
"There could be a little bit of trying to spur him on a bit, trying to show us more but in my opinion he is one of the best midfielders in the league. There is no problem there."