Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne believes that his five-month break from football due to injury may ultimately be a blessing in disguise for both himself and the club.

De Bruyne returned from hamstring surgery in the 5-0 victory over Huddersfield Town on Sunday, marking his first appearance for Pep Guardiola's side since August.

The 32-year-old, who provided an assist for Jérémy Doku just 17 minutes after coming on, expressed feeling refreshed after his time on the sidelines and is eager to contribute to City's pursuit of trophies in the second half of the season.

"It's not like I needed a break but I took it to turn a disadvantage into an advantage," De Bruyne said. "When I reflect on my career, playing the last 10 years non-stop with a short break, maybe it was good for me to reset a little bit in a way and take care of myself when it is not really possible during the year.

"I hoped I could work hard and come back in a good way and I feel that I'm doing that but obviously I need to progress." De Bruyne missed 27 games before returning to the squad for the 2-0 win over Sheffield United on Dec. 30.

He got his first minutes against Huddersfield and afterwards admitted it was good to be back, if only because he's not a fan of watching games on TV. "I can watch whatever football and I watched every game but I don't like it," he said. "They've obviously been alright.

After the year we had last year, there will be ups and downs but in most of the games except for Aston Villa and maybe Wolves, we did fairly well. We are there with the other teams. "If you're here with all the teams around, you're not going to be far away. We are where we need to be, but we need to try and continue that."