Wolfsburg defender Marcel Schafer is confident that his club will be able to keep former Chelsea forward Kevin De Bruyne with them for next season.

The 23-year-old Belgium international joined the Bundesliga outfit in January 2014 after failing to make his mark at Stamford Bridge and has since re-emerged as a major talent, scoring 14 times and providing more than 20 assists during the current campaign.

And that sort of form has ignited talk of renewed interest from clubs in England, in particular Manchester City, but Schafer believes that the draw of Champions League football will be enough to convince De Bruyne to stay put.

He told reporters: “Next year he could play Champions League here and win titles with us.

“If you want to win titles you need extraordinary players and you really have to say that Kevin De Bruyne is at the moment the best player in the Bundesliga.

“You can see that in every single game and we’re really, really happy to have him and to keep him till the next season or maybe a little bit longer.”

Wolfsburg are currently second in the Bundesliga standings, 10 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, but seven ahead of third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach.

They have also made it through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, having disposed of Sporting Lisbon and Inter Milan in the last two rounds.

In the last eight they have been drawn to face Napoli and are 1.79 to reach the last four, with the Serie A outfit 2.21.