Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has explained why Jose Mourinho prevented him from joining Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund.
Jose Mourinho prevented Kevin De Bruyne from joining Jurgen Klopp, says Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian International, who moved from Genk to Chelsea in 2012 was struggling to get proper game time at Stamford Bridge and was instantly loaned out to the German outfit Werder Bremen.
During his debut season in the Bundesliga, the attacking midfielder played a huge part in avoiding relegation by finding the back of the net on 10 occasions in the German top flight. New manager Jose Mourinho assured that he would feature in his starting lineup more often, but his experience came back to haunt him.
When he decided to leave the Blues after a successful spell with Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund, who lost Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich, saw him as the perfect replacement and wanted him at Signal Iduna Park. However, Jurgen Klopp was dealt a huge blow in his pursuit and was forced to look elsewhere when Jose Mourinho denied selling De Bruyne during the summer of 2013.
That sale to Wolfsburg in January 2014 was proved a huge mistake by Chelsea as De Bruyne then went on to be named Bundesliga Player of the Year in 2015, before he sealed a club-record £55m switch to City that summer.
“When I was at Chelsea, there was so much in the press about my relationship with Jose Mourinho,” De Bruyne told The Players’ Tribune.
“But the truth is that I only ever spoke to him twice. The plan was always for me to go on loan for a bit. So I went to Werder Bremen in 2012, and that season went great.”
De Bruyne continued: “When I came back to Chelsea the next summer, a few German clubs wanted to sign me. [Jurgen] Klopp wanted me to come to Borussia Dortmund, and they played the kind of football that I enjoy.
“So I thought maybe Chelsea would let me go. But then Mourinho texted me: ‘You are staying. I want you to be part of this team’.”
Despite assurances of playing time from Mourinho, De Bruyne played just three times in the Premier League before being sold to Wolfsburg.
And the playmaker admits Mourinho would have preferred him to stay.
He added: “I think Jose was a bit disappointed, but to be fair to him, I think he also understood that I absolutely needed to play.
“So the club ended up selling me, and there was no big problem at all. Chelsea got more than double the price they paid for me, and I got into a much better situation at Wolfsburg.”
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