Kevin De Bruyne lifts lid on Jose Mourinho relationship

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has opened up on his relationship with Jose Mourinho, insisting he doesn't "hate" his former manager.

The Belgium international played under the Portuguese at Chelsea during the 2013-14 campaign but made just three Premier League appearances.

As quoted by Het Nieuwsblad, De Bruyne said: "They [Chelsea] really wanted to keep me and give me a chance but I actually wanted to go to Dortmund [but that move didn't materialise].

"I had a good feeling about that - and I always decide by feeling. I did play a bit at Chelsea, but away at Swindon in the cup… that was really dramatic.

"I hadn't played for a month and then you have to play against a League 2 club like that. After that, it was over.

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De Bruyne was sold to Wolfsburg in January 2014 before moving to Manchester City 18 months later, where he's established himself as one of the best players in Europe.

The ex-Genk star has won the FA Cup, three Premier League titles and five League Cups during his time at the Etihad, as well as play in a Champions League final.

De Bruyne has also been named the PFA Players' Player of the Year for the last two seasons and won various individual honours at club and international level.

Discussing his relationship with Mourinho, the player added: "I never went to Jose Mourinho. I trained hard; I showed enough. But it's a football myth that if you train well, you get chance.

"That is not true. I left it hanging a bit because I didn't see a chance to play anymore, but then I learned to behave differently sometimes.

"And that you can get out of such a situation. But I didn't see that then. I just wanted to leave. And I don't hate Mourinho either, I'm not a little kid. It just didn't work out then."

Mourinho, who went on to manage Manchester United, Tottenham and current side Roma, revealed his side to the story in June.

He 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.

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"In the second match we got to Old Trafford and after this he come 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 [at Werder Bremen] 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."