Former Leicester City attacking midfielder Anthony Knockaert is not surprised that Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy have thrived in the Premier League.
Knockaert, 24, helped Leicester get promoted in 2014 while playing alongside Algerian winger Mahrez, 25, and England striker Vardy, 29.
However, Knockaert started just three Premier League games last season, and the Frenchman is now trying to once again gain promotion from the Championship with Brighton & Hove Albion.
In contrast, Mahrez and Vardy have gone on to become Premier League champions, with Mahrez claiming the PFA Player of the Year award and Vardy picking up the Football Writers' Association prize.
Leicester City's @Mahrez22 wins the Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year award - https://t.co/0IELP66XkF pic.twitter.com/wD9T6XHlCW
- PFA (@PFA) April 24, 2016
Knockaert, though, has not been taken aback by the rapid development of his former teammates.
"No, I think that the promotion to the Premier League in 2014 was only the start of what was going to happen to them," he told French magazine So Foot. "They were already in the process of showing their qualities -- the only question was whether they could confirm them or not.
"Last year they had a season to discover [the Premier League] and this time they proved that they comfortably had the standard required.
"Mahrez was voted the best player [by the players], but it could have been Jamie [Vardy] or N'Golo Kante. Each of them had their share of responsibility in this title."
Knockaert spent the first half of this season at Belgian club Standard Liege and has registered five goals and five assists in 18 games since moving to Brighton in January.
He feels he would still be at Leicester had he played more last season, but is still delighted that his former club have managed to win the Premier League title.
Knockaert, who joined Leicester from Guingamp in 2012, feels that the Foxes' success is fully deserved and puts it down to a sense of unity, coupled with careful recruitment.
"It's a family club where everyone is tightly knit," he said. "That's the strength of Leicester -- their mentality and their state of mind.
"The directors look for that in their recruitment and that's what makes the difference compared to the other teams in the league."