‘Taking over the world’: Burnley boss Vincent Kompany praised by former Manchester City teammate

Ex-England international Joe Hart has named the Belgian among the best players he played with during his 12 years at the Etihad.

Appearing on Ben Foster’s Cycling GK podcast, the current Celtic goalkeeper was asked to name the five best players he played with at Man City – a challenge he struggled with.

But Kompany, who led the Clarets back to the Premier League in his first season in charge, was among a list of impressive names.

“Richard Dunne has got to be in there,” Hart told Foster.

“He made me go ‘woah’ because he was really strong, really aggressive, he was so consistent, he was quick and he was holding together a tough team.

“Four years in a row he won player of the season – everybody loved him and everybody respected him.

“That’s the beauty of Man City. They’re a new powerhouse and you can probably go to a shopping mall in Malaysia and a young kid will be wearing a ‘Haaland – 9’ shirt but the club definitely existed before all of that.

“Vincent is just a colossal human being, an amazing player and an amazing captain. Look at him now, he’s taking over the world isn’t he?

“I’ve played with so many, Micah (Richards), Zaba (Pablo Zabaleta), Gael (Clichy), I feel guilty naming names. Joleon (Lescott).

“Then you’ve got people like Gareth Barry, anyone inside of football and you mention his name and they will say ‘what a player’.

“James Milner, you can have your fun talking about him just being fit but he’s not just fit, he’s brilliant.

“Obviously you’ve got Yaya, who is just a phenom. He was frustrating but jeez, when he decided it was time to win a game he’d go and win it.

“David (Silva), an amazing little character and an unbelievable footballer. I used to laugh every day because he’s not fast, he’s so one-footed it’s a joke, he’s weak yet no-one could touch him.

“He never headed it, he never used his right foot, he’s 5ft 3ins so he wasn’t particularly strong, in April he would start doing bicep curls for the summer, he had no real power in his left foot either. But wow, what a player and what a guy as well. A really good guy, a fun guy.

“There’s obviously Kun (Sergio Aguero) up front, I played with (Carlos) Tevez, Kevin (De Bruyne), I played with Raheem (Sterling). Edin Dzeko.

“Even Samir Nasri, when it comes to being a talented footballer he could just bang on a pair of size eights and he was a beautiful footballer.”