Arsenal midfielder Eberechi Eze has named the toughest player he has faced in his football career.

Speaking on Adebayo Akinfenwa’s podcast, Eze singled out former Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne as a “high-level thinker.”

The 27-year-old encountered De Bruyne during his time at Crystal Palace and described him as a “special” player who seemed to have solutions to every challenge on the pitch.

“I’m gonna say Kevin De Bruyne,” Eze said. “To play the way he was playing, to do the things he was doing for that amount of time, it’s not easy. You can tell he’s a high-level thinker.

“These are the type of players I’ve looked up to from a young age, so he’s definitely special. Probably the kind of player you come up against and think, ‘he’s got solutions to problems I hadn’t even given him yet.’ He’s a special guy.”