Kevin De Bruyne departed Chelsea with somewhat of a whimper in 2014 having failed to make much of an impact in the Premier League.
A season later he was voted Bundesliga Player Of the Year for Wolfsburg, and having returned to England for a whopping £55m, the Belgian has quickly established himself as one of the most creative and impactful attacking midfielders in the league.
Speaking to Mark Odgen of the Telegraph, De Bruyne, who fired Manchester City into their first ever Champions League semi-final midweek, described one of the chief reasons behind his decision to depart on a permanent basis.
Having requested he be loaned out to play first-team football, De Bruyne says he was summoned to the José Mourinho's office where the Portuguese made it clear he wanted De Bruyne to fight for his place at Stamford Bridge.
He called in all the attacking midfielders,
said the Belgian.
He showed us the stats of his six players - assists, goals, passing percentage, key passes, dribbles. He wanted to prove I didn't perform on the level of the others.
I simply answered him: ‘Sorry, that's not logical. I've played less games than the others. How can you compare me to the others?’ That was just not fair in my eyes.
I didn't get any explanation. I only spoke with him twice, Mourinho.
18 months later, Chelsea's loss would be City's gain. De Bruyne has notched 15 goals and 9 assists in sky blue this season.
Glenn Whelan is going to have his hands full in June.
You can read his full interview with Mark Ogden here.
