Thierry Henry snubs Messi and Bergkamp when naming 'cleverest' player he's seen | OneFootball

Zinedine Zidane, Dennis Bergkamp, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi – you could go on and on about the wealth of talent Thierry Henry has lined up alongside.

But the Frenchman has snubbed all of those icons and called Kevin De Bruyne the cleverest player he has ever seen.

The Belgian star played a vital role for Manchester City in their Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid, scoring a controversial goal to ensure that Pep Guardiola's side left the Spanish capital on level terms in the tie.

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The City boss described De Bruyne's performance as "incredible", with the crucial goal setting up a tantalising return leg at the Etihad Stadium next week.

Henry on De Bruyne: ‘His brain is the best I have seen’

And after the match, Henry took some time to talk about the midfielder for CBS Sports.

The two men had worked together previously in the Belgium setup, and while Henry was surprised about De Bruyne being handed the Man of the Match award, he said one quality, in particular, makes him incredibly important to City.

“I don’t think he had a great game,” the Arsenal legend said. “But he had an important goal.

“I still think he’s the most important player in this team.

“I came across a lot of players, played with a lot of players, saw a lot of players, played against some of the greatest. I think his brain is the best I have seen.

“Because his brain is in some places, I don’t know what he thinks about sometimes. You look at him and it’s almost like he’s not with us because he’s that good.

“And sometimes it can be a problem because you’re not on his level, but I think he’s the most clever player I’ve seen in my life.”

That’s high praise indeed coming from a man who played alongside some of the greatest players in the world, all of whom had bags of talent and intellect.

And when fellow pundit Jamie Carragher brings up two of them in Xavi and Iniesta and asks Henry whether trophies like the Champions League are needed to cement your status as a great, the former Arsenal man believes that true legacy is decided by performances on the pitch.

“Yes it [trophies] helps, yes it solidifies your legacy,” Henry says. “But I do think also that legacy is about what you transmit and how you transcend people.

“And Kevin De Bruyne is of those players. We talked about Thomas Muller the other day, you can be De Bruyne.

“It’s difficult to be Messi, it’s difficult to be Zidane, it’s difficult to be Ronaldinho. You need some type of skills that those guys had a conversation with God.

“You can be Kevin. And his brain, I’m still thinking about some stuff that I’ve seen, he’s just on a different planet.”

City will need De Bruyne’s brilliant mind functioning at its best to overcome a tough Real Madrid team in the semi-final second leg.