Mourinho revealed why De Bruyne and Salah left Chelsea. It wasn’t my choice, says Portuguese strategist

They have both been among the best players in the world for several years. Mohamed Salah has become a Liverpool legend, Kevin De Bruyne has achieved the same status at Manchester City. Yet both played for Chelsea, who sold them for now ridiculous sums. José Mourinho revealed why neither stayed at Stamford Bridge.

José Mourinho is now the coach of AS Roma, where he continues to write his legacy. Although he has limited options and resources, he is still doing very well in the big competition. He has won a European trophy, he has brought passion back to the club, the fans are coming to the stadium more than ever.

The Special One has also changed his behaviour in recent years. He’s not so eccentric anymore, he’s very honest and he’s revealing more and more things from the past. In fact, he has now done this on the Obi One Podcast where he was a guest.

In fact, he went back to the time when he coached Chelsea London for the second time in his career. At that time, Chelsea had two promising footballers in their squad. One was Mohamed Salah, the other was Kevin De Bruyne. Today, names that need no introduction.

While Salah is now a Liverpool legend, De Bruyne is making Manchester City history. Both are among the best footballers in the world. It has long been a mystery why Chelsea got rid of such talents. And for a song. Mourinho has now revealed it.

Mourinho reveals why De Bruyne and Salah left Chelsea

Mohamed Salah arrived at Chelsea from Basel in January 2014 for 16.5 million euros. After a year, he went on a six-month loan to Fiorentina and was subsequently acquired by AS Roma, who didn’t hesitate to buy him for €15 million when the loan spell ended. A year later (summer 2017) the Egyptian left for Liverpool for 42.5 million euros.

Kevin De Bruyne arrived at Stamford Bridge for 8 million euros in January 2012 from Genk, where he still stayed on loan until the end of the season. In August that year, he was loaned to Werder Bremen, where he showed great talent and his qualities.

After the season, he was given a chance in Chelsea’s A-team, but after six months he headed to Wolfsburg, who bought him for €22 million. A year and a half later (summer 2015) he was bought by Manchester City for 76 million euros.

“To be honest, they both left because they wanted to leave. They didn’t want to wait. History shows that their choice was a good one. They have had great careers, they have reached a high standard. But sometimes players make decisions because they don’t have the patience to wait for the right moment and then their career goes in the wrong direction,” says José Mourinho.

“As far as Kevin is concerned, we went to Asia before the 2013/14 season. De Bruyne was supposed to go on loan to Germany, but I told the club I didn’t want to send him away, I wanted him in my team. He stayed with me, started playing in the starting line-up. Then we played the European Super Cup in Prague against Bayern and he didn’t play. The next day he wanted to leave,” the Portuguese explained the situation around De Bruyne.

“Then we played the second Premier League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. We drew 0:0. Kevin was on the bench, he played a few minutes, but it wasn’t enough. So he wanted to leave. If you’re at Chelsea and you want to leave, go. Someone else will come. They were just eager kids. But their careers say they were right. But it wasn’t my choice. Some may say I pushed them out of the team, but they won’t say that,” Mourinho added.

While Salah played 19 games for Chelsea with a tally of two goals and four assists, De Bruyne notched up nine starts and one assist.

Source: Obi One Podcast, Transfermarkt