The Blues’ boss had some strong words to say
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has admitted that he had to sell Kevin De Bruyne, after the winger came into his office crying and begging to leave.
The Belgian international joined the West London side from Genk back in 2012, but he only made three Premier League appearances before moving to VfL Wolfsburg for £18 million in 2014.
The 24-year old playmaker is now a target for Manchester City, who look set to sign the attacking midfielder for approximately £50.4 million.
However, with this interest becoming public knowledge, Mourinho has revealed exactly what made him let De Bruyne leave Stamford Bridge.
‘He was an upset kid, training very bad.’
Mourinho said: “With De Bruyne, if you have a player knocking on your door and crying every day he wants to leave, you have to make a decision.”
He also added: “At that time, Chelsea did well. If De Bruyne stayed here, not happy and not motivated and we’d sold him after a year, we’d have got less; 50 percent less than what we sold him for. So we sold him. At that moment, it was very good business.”
“If somebody comes and pays for him what somebody would pay for Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, it looks from the eyes of the world that it’s bad business from us,” suggested Mourinho.
“But, if he was at Chelsea and not at Wolfsburg, he wouldn’t have reached this level. It was like a wall, a block. He was not ready to compete. He was an upset kid, training very bad.
He always said he had trained well in his life, but he needs motivation to train well by playing every game. Andre Schurrle was a bit the same,” admitted the Portuguese gaffer.
Reports from the Daily Express suggest that De Bruyne’s move to the Etihad Stadium should be completed within the next week.
