Man City ace De Bruyne: I just had to leave Chelsea

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has clarified what took place when he left Chelsea.

Much has been made of Jose Mourinho's decision to sell De Bruyne in 2014 after he spent just six months with the first-team.

The Belgian has since gone on to become a two-time Premier League winner with City.

And the 29-year-old has revealed how a conversation with Mourinho in December 2013 changed the course of his career.

"There was so much in the press about my relationship with Jose Mourinho," De Bruyne told Sky Sports. "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.

"Jose called me into his office in December, and it was probably the second big life-changing moment for me. He had some papers in front of him, and he said, 'One assist. Zero goals. Ten recoveries'.

"It took me a minute to understand what he was doing. Then he started reading the stats of the other attacking forwards - Willian, Oscar, [Juan] Mata, [Andre] Schurrle. And it's like - five goals, 10 assists, whatever.

"Jose was just kind of waiting for me to say something, and finally I said, 'But... some of these guys have played 15, 20 games. I've only played three. So it's going to be different, no?'

"It was so strange. I was completely honest. I said, 'I feel like the club doesn't really want me here. I want to play football. I'd rather you sell me.'"

De Bruyne added that he felt he had no other choice but to leave Chelsea.

"I decided to go away because I felt I didn't have any chances of playing at the time," he continued.

"I didn't see more opportunities coming so for me, it was the best decision to leave Chelsea and go to a situation where I felt I could start again.

"Did I expect it to go this way? Obviously not, because at that time it was a low point in my career but I never had any doubt in my abilities as a football player.

"I can't think what is going to happen eight years down the line playing for City, in World Cups and all that stuff. It's wonderful."