The Belgian midfielder had an underwhelming spell at Chelsea for two years.
Chelsea might be still ruing the decision to sell Kevin de Bruyne in 2014 as he went on to become one of the best midfielders in the world.
Jose Mourinho was the Blues’ manager during that time, and he has faced a lot of criticism over the years.
However, the Portuguese boss has now said that it wasn’t his decision to sell the Manchester City midfielder.
Mourinho said: “He impressed me so much I made the decision I don’t want this kid to go on loan, I want him to stay, and in our first match of the Premier League season, he started against Hull City.
“In the second match, we got to Old Trafford, and after this, he came to me and said, ‘I want to play every match, I want to play every minute’. He put a lot of pressure on that.
“He wanted to leave, he wanted to go to Germany where he was previously on loan and so happy, and his decision was to go. He put big pressure on that, and it worked very well for him.
“The story is there, and the quality of the player is absolute; he is top five in the world.”
The AS Roma manager also added that he wanted to keep hold of De Bruyne, citing his potential, but the player was desperate to join Werder Bremen on loan – the move that initiated his success story.
“When he was supposed to leave on loan, and I made the decision for him to stay, I saw those qualities. He did not have the experience and maturity he has now, but his feet and his vision was already there.
“He knew very well what he wanted, and he was not ready to have that season at Chelsea, where a lot of good players were in the same team, he didn’t have the patience.
“He was not ready for that; he was coming from a season in Germany where he was playing every minute of every match.
“Sometimes us coaches make mistakes, but that was not the case. I saw he had the potential to do it, but he just knew perfectly well what he wanted.”
After leaving Chelsea, De Bruyne had a productive spell in Bundesliga club Wolfsburg that eventually caught the eyes of Man City, who broke the banks for his singing in 2015.
Fast forward to 2021, the Belgian playmaker is now being considered as one of the finest players in the world. He will definitely feature in the top five playmakers in the Premier League as well as in Europe.
The 29-year-old has been instrumental to the Red Devils in Euro 2020 so far, mustering a goal and three assists in the group stage.
