Is £54m Manchester City signing Kevin De Bruyne already England’s bargain of the season?

Manchester City enjoyed a 2-1 win over Sevilla at the Etihad Stadium that was lucky in the extreme. Their dust-up with the Europa League winners seemed certain to finish 1-1 after an unfortunate Adil Rami own goal on 36 minutes had restored parity from Yevhen Konoplyanka’s opening effort for the Liga side on 30 minutes, but Belgium's attacking midfielder De Bruyne had the final say by slotting a lovely winning goal from a Yaya Toure pass in time added on. City have snagged wins against Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla to move up to second in Group D, a point behind Juventus after their defeat to the Italian champions in the opening match. They look to be in rude health.

The season is barely two months old, but De Bruyne already appears to be a mere snip at £54m, the type of buy in Premier League parlance that should pay itself back before the £5.136 billion television contract kicks in next season. You tend to get better value abroad. If City have overpaid for Raheem Sterling at £49m, they appear to have paid less than the going rate for De Bruyne. If such a possibility exists.

Pellegrini is not nicknamed the smiling South American, but he looked like he had discovered Manchester’s finest Chilean eating spot when he welcomed De Bruyne off the pitch at full-time. For making his manager burst into a momentous broad smile that looked like it would need to be burned off with a blow torch, De Bruyne deserves credit. “We bought Kevin because we thought he was a very creative player. He has goals in him," said Pellegrini. "This team always tries to play attractive and offensive football and for that you need good players. In all senses he was the perfect player to arrive to our team.” A timely glass of Concha Y Toro Don Melchor would have tasted good last night.

You could say that. At the ripe old age of 24, he looks like a young chap who does not get overly up nor down with life’s highs and low. treat those imposters just the same as they say. “I think even though we didn't have our best game in the end we tried everything to look for the victory and thankfully we could score," he said.

He has scored nine goals in 17 outings for club and country. In his past seven games, he has scored four times with five assists. His breathtaking effort in the 6-1 win over Newcastle earlier this month tends to be overlooked by Sergio Aguero’s five, but that in itself was a thing of real beauty as he hooked a volley over his shoulder into the visiting net in a finish of high technical quality. He is a high calibre figure. Talk about hitting the ground running? De Bruyne is sprinting at his new club both figuratively and literally judging by the nature of his celebrations in sealing the City win.

Very much so. It is a very De Bruyne-dominated English sports press today. City are indeed in 'Kevin heaven'.

You do wonder what Jose Mourinho makes watching some of these goings on? Mourinho had six months of De Bruyne, the first six months of his second coming at Chelsea coach in 2013, but decided to endorse his £18m sale to Wolfsburg at the outset of last year. At least we presume he did. And now he is back in business in England 22 months later with an extra £37m attached to his back. De Bruyne is one of the 23-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon D’or as a City rep. Which says enough.

That appears to be the case. They are two points clear of their fierce foes ahead of their trip to Old Trafford on Sunday, and could also reintroduce captain Vincent Kompany to the starting side to face United. He was given a few minutes late on last night after recovering from a calf injury.

"Vincent is just coming back from a long injury that kept him out for a month, and it was probably a risk to give him the responsibility to play in this important game,” said Pellegrini. “Tomorrow we will start thinking about the derby and we will see the way the players recover."