Kevin De Bruyne Opens Up on Poor Relationship With Mourinho at Chelsea

Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he spoke to Jose Mourinho only twice during his time under the Portuguese boss at Chelsea.

Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he spoke to Jose Mourinho only twice during his time under the Portuguese boss at Chelsea. 

After returning from a loan spell at Werder Bremen in 2013, the now-26-year-old seemingly impressed his manager and was selected in the west Londoners' starting XI for their opening pair of Premier League fixtures. 

However, the Belgian was cast aside by the self-proclaimed 'Special One' just six months into the Blues manager's second term at Stamford Bridge; recording only one more league showing before being sold to Wolfsburg for £18m in January 2014. 

And asked about his relationship with Mourinho ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend; a contest where Manchester City can be crowned Premier League champions if they claim all three points, De Bruyne told the BBC: "I would say distant.

"I'm not somebody who speaks a lot with coaches. I think if the coach wants to speak with you then you just do it.

"He's the boss. You can be good with each other, but still, there's a distance between a coach and a player.

"I only spoke with him twice. That was [firstly] when I wanted to leave for Dortmund at the beginning of the summer. And then at the second meeting, I just said: 'for me, it's better to go. I want to play football'."

Since De Bruyne's return to the Premier League with Manchester City just 18 months after leaving Chelsea, he has gone on to become a critical aspect of Pep Guardiola's soon to be Premier League winning side. 

The Belgium international is set to battle it out with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, another ace Mourinho once sold, for both the FWA and PFA Players' Player of the Season come May, as well as potentially be part of a treble-winning outfit.