Kevin De Bruyne asked for public Chelsea training to prove Jose Mourinho wrong
Wednesday 15 March 2017 18:21, UK
Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he asked for public training sessions at Chelsea to disprove Jose Mourinho's claims about him.
Mourinho said De Bruyne was "crying every day he wants to leave" and was not motivated in training when the former Chelsea manager allowed the player to leave for Wolfsburg for £18m in 2014.
Having moved on to Manchester City for £54.5m a year later the 25-year-old has already expressed his belief that he has answered his former boss' criticism of him.
But he Belgium international has now insisted he could have shown Mourinho's comments to be false much sooner had his requests regarding Chelsea's training been granted.
"It is true that he said in the press that I wasn't doing what was needed in training," De Bruyne told France Football. "It was easy to say that because there was no-one to check it - the training sessions were closed to the public. But everyone knows I am not like that.
"I never let anyone put me down. I say what I have to say, with respect of course. But at that moment, I couldn't do anything because he would have said I was lying and afterwards he would have used it.
"Did I ask for training to be done in public? I said it, yes, but not to him personally."
De Bruyne has scored four goals and registered nine assists in his 24 Premier League appearances for Manchester City this season, and current Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has admitted "it is a pity" the midfielder is no longer at Stamford Bridge.
