KEVIN DE BRUYNE admits to having endured a ‘distant’ relationship with Jose Mourinho during a forgettable stint at Chelsea, claiming the pair only spoke on two occasions.
The Belgian midfielder was taken to Stamford Bridge in 2012 after making the breakthrough in his homeland with Genk.
He was considered to be an exciting talent, but was restricted to just nine appearances for the Blues before leaving to rebuild his career in Germany with Wolfsburg.
De Bruyne is now back in England and leading Manchester City’s Premier League title charge, with the 26-year-old having offered the perfect response to Mourinho and those who doubted him.
He told The Premier League Show when asked to describe his relationship with a former boss in west London: “I would say, distant.
“I’m not really 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 there’s still a distance between a coach and a player.
I only spoke with him twice, that’s when I wanted to leave to Dortmund at the beginning of the summer and the second meeting I just said: ‘For me it’s better to go, I want to play football’.”
De Bruyne was eventually granted that wish, with three seasons at Wolfsburg seeing him offer enough to tempt City into a £55 million move.
A second spell in England has proved to be far more productive than his first, with nobody able to match his top tier assist haul since 2015.
He has created another 15 Premier League goals this term, along with seven efforts of his own, and is a leading contender for the PFA Player of the Year award alongside Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
De Bruyne added on the consistency he has found in his game: “I feel very happy about it.
“My feeling is that I’ve constantly been playing good. In my feeling, this year there’s not been a lot of games where I’ve been a little bit down.
“It’s always been a seven out of 10 or sometimes a little bit better.
“It helps when you win that many games with a team and you only lose one.”
City and De Bruyne can wrap up the Premier League title this weekend with a derby victory over arch-rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium.
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As a Dub we have had some serious battles over the past 5 years with mayo and I don’t like them but I have huge admiration for them and there players. 50/50 next Saturday really looking forward to it.
It was a very good game, I don’t think the conditions had too much of an effect. Mayo surprised me big time, I sincerely thought they would not be at this stage of the championship after last years heartache but they are and they seem to be getting better with every game. If they had one more forward of the calibre of Moran they’d be very hard to beat. Kerry on the other hand had to rely on their vast experience to counter-act a sub-par performance, are they as bad as they were yesterday or was it just a blip? Anyway, hopefully the replay will be as good a game, look forward as a neutral to another enthralling game.
Interesting. The Kerry full back line looked like a herd of sheep going into a field for the first time. Maybe a billy could help them out instead of Tomas’ buddy.
Agree with some of the analysis but for me Mayo pushed up and hadnt the legs to get back to defend as we will see Tyrone and Dublin will filter back. I thought Moran was outstanding for Kerry. Its 50/50 for the replay but Mayo by one for me so the Dubs can beat them in another Final pg.
@Vinny Hughes: I didn’t know the other semi final was already played!
@Vinny Hughes:
Remember the red HAND OF ULSTER Vinny .your not there to beat anyone yet ,,,!!!!!!!’