The 29-year-old attacking midfielder is out with a hamstring injury he picked up in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa in January.
The Belgian has missed the last three league games and it is likely to be a few more weeks before he will be fit and ready to feature for Manchester City again.
Whelan conceded that as a Liverpool fan he expected De Bruyne’s injury to derail Manchester City’s season as he is by far the best player in Pep Guardiola’s squad.
But he admits that Manchester City have looked even better in the last few games and other players have stepped up massively to fill the gap left by De Bruyne’s absence from the team.
Whelan said on LFC TV: “When De Bruyne got injured, I was one of those Liverpool fans who went, yes great, he won’t be playing at Anfield.
“They have not lost a game since he has gone out, which says a lot about the squad he has got.
“De Bruyne is the best player they have got by a mile and when he wasn’t in the team we all thought they would drop so much.
“But since he has got injured, they have played very well and some of the players, like [Ilkay] Gundogan, looks to be cruising through the game at the moment.
“A lot of the players have stepped up in his absence and made City get better results since he went out.”
Liverpool will hope to exploit De Bruyne’s absence when they host Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
