London (AFP) – Beating Manchester United to clinch the Premier League title next Saturday would be ‘historic’ says Manchester City’s Belgian playmaker Kevin de Bruyne.

The 26-year-old — the architect of City’s surge towards the title — said it would be terrific for the fans if the side labelled ‘the noisy neighbours’ by former United manager Alex Ferguson sealed the trophy against Jose Mourinho’s team at the Etihad Stadium.

Adding spice to the fixture is the fact de Bruyne was sold by Mourinho to German outfit VfL Wolfsburg in January 2014 within months of the Portuguese returning for his second spell in charge at Chelsea.  

“We are going to relish this position,” said De Bruyne in the ‘Daily Telegraph’.

“To make it (the title) against United would be special. It would be so nice to go on and win against United, for the fans it would be something special.

“It would be wonderful, something different — you know how it goes between them, you know the history so it would be historic.”