The Merseyside club eventually fell short, finishing two points behind City.
De Bruyne has had a similar impact on his side, scoring nine goals and providing eight assists in 15 starts in all competitions this campaign.
"He's a top player. He's someone that gets in and around the box and creates and scores goals," Sterling was quoted as saying by British media.
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"Is he like Suarez? Yes, most definitely. Every top team needs a player who scores and assists goals so regularly like Kevin does. It's most important.
"With Suarez, you knew once he got in and around the box, you knew what he was capable of doing, usually it ended with a goal. It's the same with Kevin."
The former Liverpool winger accepted his place in the City starting line-up is not guaranteed.
"The players in the squad are capable of starting in any game and if the manager puts them out there, I am sure they will do the business," Sterling said.
"Obviously everyone wants to play every game but that cannot happen at this level, you have to get rotated at times and that is what happened."
City will look to maintain their place at the top of the league table when they travel to the Britannia Stadium to take on 12th-placed Stoke City on Saturday.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
