Marc Wilmots believes the best of Kevin De Bruyne could still be to come at Euro 2016 Getty

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots believes Kevin de Bruyne suffered from joining Manchester City for over £50m but has seen signs of the player returning to his old self.

The 24-year-old moved from Wolfsburg for £55m last summer and, despite playing an influential role for Manuel Pellegrini's side, Wilmots witnessed a change in the midfielder.

However, WIlmots is happy with the player's recent form: “He is a human being, he has emotions. He was transferred for a lot of money and there are a lot of things going on in his life.

"Now I have a smiling guy again. We have to have this kind of guy, one who plays with a smile on his face."

Wilmots' side face Hungary in the Euro 2016 knockout stages on Sunday. The Red Devils were one of the pre-tournament favourites but have struggled at times, while De Bruyne's performances in France have also been criticised.

"We have talked together and I am waiting for better performances individually from my players," Wilmots added.

"We have shown an improvement to some extent but we can play better link-up football. Now we have to be more efficient because we are in the knockout phase.

"Kevin has been good in the last 20-25 metres but he can still improve. I know he can play better. Kevin could be a key player [against Hungary]. He was not very good against Italy, he was so-so but he's tried to get better.”

"We're considered to be one of the five big teams so it's normal that the pressure is there. I would rather play against England and Spain than Hungary. We would have nothing to lose against those teams. The press acts like the game against Hungary will be a walkover. Did people not see them play against Portugal? There are no more small teams in international football.

"We will play Hungary with the same focus as we would play any so called big nation. Each one of my players knows what I expect from them."

Despite topping their group Hungary are still very much outsiders heading into the last 16, but captain Balazs Dzsudzsak is more than happy with how the tournament has gone judging by the reaction back home.

"At the moment everything seems like a dream, and we're always asked after the matches what we feel,” he said. “I think our answers are too simple because we are still affected by what happened in Budapest and in Hungary - 15 million people went out of their minds."