After completing a loan stint at Werder Bremen, De Bruyne came back to Chelsea and faced the ргospect of another temporary move to the Bundesliga. He reveals that the possibility of joining Dortmund, under the management of Klopp at the time, was on the table. However, the then-Blues manager Mourinho opted to retain him at Stamford Bridge.

He told TNT Sports: “I signed for Chelsea knowing that I would be loaned out the first year and if I do really well we’ll see what happens. I did the pre-season, went to Werder Bremen, had a really good year. In the summer it was a little bit of a toss-up, I could have went to Dortmund with Klopp at the time or stayed, and Jose wɑnted me to stay. It just didn’t work out, I was maybe just a little bit impatient at the time also, but I just wɑnted to play football.”

Despite Mourinho retaining him, De Bruyne featured in only three Premier League matches during the initial phase of the 2013-14 season. Consequently, he decided to depart, choosing a permanent transfer to Wolfsburg, where he ascended to stardom before securing a move to Manchester City.

Asked if he felt he deserved to be in the Chelsea team before his departure, he said: “I had the confidence. I know there’s a lot of good players there and that it was a top team. I understand how it also works for the young guys at every club when you get loaned out, come back, loaned out, come back, and I didn’t want that situation anymore, so I just pushed a little bit to get sold and that will happen.”