Micah Richards names his No 1 pick out of Kevin De Bruyne, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard

Micah Richards has named his favourite player out of Kevin de Bruyne, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes.

The debate about which of the three England stars was the best has rumbled on for years, but people are beginning to accept that there is now a fourth choice for the best ever Premier League midfielder.

Kevin de Bruyne announced his return to Premier League action on Sunday with a superb cameo in Manchester City's 3-2 win against Newcastle.

The Belgian midfielder didn't make a league appearance for almost five months after he suffered a serious hamstring injury on the opening day of the season.

After coming off the bench with 20 minutes left to play at St James' Park, the 32-year-old scored an incredible equaliser before setting up Oscar Bobb's injury-time winner with an audacious pass.

De Bruyne's otherworldly performance prompted Micah Richards, Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker to discuss the question of the Premier League's best ever midfielder on The Rest is Football podcast.

Despite winning the Premier League with City in 2012 and maintaining a close affinity with the club, Richards admitted that Gerrard still shades it.

"My number one has always been Steven Gerrard," Richards said.

"I just think he had absolutely everything, and played in teams that weren't potentially as great as the others and he was always the key man.

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"To get to two Champions League finals, winning one of them and losing one, but being a key man in getting them there. I know he didn't win the Premier League, but just his consistency, he would be my number one.

"I think that by the time De Bruyne has finished his career, I think he might just overtake him [Gerrard]."

Richards played with both Gerrard and Lampard for England, and faced Scholes in several Manchester derbies. The former defender left City in 2015, the same summer De Bruyne arrived at the Etihad Stadium.

Gerrard made 504 Premier League appearances, scoring 121 goals and setting up 100 more.

De Bruyne has so far enjoyed 244 Premier League outings - three for Chelsea - in which he's scored 65 goals and provided 106 assists.

Topics: Kevin De Bruyne, Steven Gerrard, Micah Richards, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes, Premier League

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton