De Bruyne: Mourinho stopped me from joining Klopp at Dortmund

Posted Saturday, November 21, 2015 by Goal.com

The 24-year-old stated his former coach at Stamford Bridge talked him out of a move to BVB, but is now content with his start to life in Manchester

Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne revealed Jose Mourinho talked him out of a move to sign for Borussia Dortmund while he was still with Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp had attempted to sign him in the summer of 2013 but the Blues' rejected the overtures of the German side, with Mourinho promising the talented youngster more playing time after he had returned from an excellent loan spell at Werder Bremen.

However, the Belgian failed to break into the Portuguese's first-team plans and was sold to Wolfsburg the following January, where he was named Bundesliga Player of the Year last season before earning a €74 million transfer to Premier League big-spenders Manchester City.

De Bruyne will face Klopp when his Liverpool side visit Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and the 24-year-old has spoken of his admiration for the new Reds' manager.

"I had a personal agreement [with Klopp],” De Bruyne told The Telegraph. “I asked the club [Chelsea] to go because I had a good feeling about Dortmund at the time. I had been good in Germany and he [Klopp] really wanted me because [Mario] Gotze went to Bayern Munich.

"He called me, and said ‘You will be the No 1’ at a team who had been second in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League final.