Pep Guardiola described Vincent Kompany as “something special” as the Manchester City captain celebrated the 10th anniversary of his arrival at the club.
Kompany joined City from Hamburg on August 22, 2008 for a reported £7.65million and has since won three Premier League titles, three League Cups, an FA Cup and two Community Shields.
The 32-year-old has struggled with injuries since Guardiola arrived at City, making just 28 Premier League appearances in the Spanish coach’s first two seasons at the helm.
Loved by all! ? #Kompany10 pic.twitter.com/pHCvfz3Xg3
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 22, 2018
But the City boss paid tribute to Kompany’s achievements over the last decade and said he was proud to work with the Belgium international.
“When one guy is with the same club for 10 years it’s because he is something special,” he told CityTV.
“So you have to be so proud like I am to work with you this period.
“Now will be our third year – thank you so much.”
Kompany’s team-mates joined the celebration of his decade at City, with Claudio Bravo saying: “Very few players have the privilege, to have a career like you have, with this club.”
Benjamin Mendy added: “You were born with this club!
“You are a great guy, a good man, a good captain with a lot of experience.”
Kompany knows history is against Manchester City in their quest to retain the Premier League title, but he does not see complacency creeping into Pep Guardiola’s ranks.
The Manchester United teams of 2007-08 and 2008-09 were the last to successfully win back-to-back crowns and Kompany has been part of two City sides since that have been unable to immediately follow up a title triumph with another championship.
However, Guardiola’s men have beaten Arsenal and Huddersfield to go to the top of the embryonic Premier League table and long-serving defender Kompany believes the atmosphere around the champions is “different” to the 2012 and 2014 City sides that failed in their title defences.
“I can only say it’s different from previous years we have won the league,” the City captain told reporters.
“I think everyone has been warned enough as well: no team in the last nine seasons has been able to repeat and win the league.
“There’s been so many warnings we have had and every single time we almost have to fight against ourselves and our nature, not to fall in the same trap as the other teams have done, my teams included a few years ago.
“But I can see that everyone is training hard. There’s so much competition in the team that we have to anyway.
“If I can say one thing, you are never guaranteed to win the league. But if we can compete then we will have done something that no other team has done since the last nine years.”