Wolfsburg proved there is life after De Bruyne - Hecking

Dieter Hecking is confident Kevin De Bruyne's departure to Manchester City will not derail Wolfsburg's Bundesliga title chase.

Former Chelsea playmaker De Bruyne is poised to complete his protracted move back to the Premier League over the weekend, with fees reaching £60million thought to have prised the Belgium international from the Volkswagen Arena.

Wolfsburg are set to lose another key attacker in the coming days as Croatia strikr Ivan Perisic closes on a switch to Inter.

With De Bruyne and Perisic given a watching brief, Wolfsburg's remaining players thrashed Schalke 3-0 on Friday to take last season's runners-up to the top of an embryonic Bundesliga table.

"I know that I can trust my team," Hecking said. "They don't have to prove anything. 

"It can always happen that both of them are injured. Are we supposed to lose without them? This is again a question that answers itself. 

"They are pros and want to win games, even when one or two players are missing. So they didn't have to make a statement. 

"The statement was that they played better then in Cologne last week.

"Even though two players were missing, who aren't even gone yet. Both are still part of the team, they were with the team and congratulated the players to their great game.

"What are we talking about? Right now, I am happy that the team won and that had we had a great performance without these two players."