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- But former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists that he ‘didn’t let them go’
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Jose Mourinho has revealed why Chelsea sold future Premier League superstars Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, claiming the pair were ‘just kids who couldn’t wait’ for opportunities.
The legendary former Blues boss, who brought three Premier League titles to Stamford Bridge in 2005, 2006 and 2015 across two separate spells at the club, was manager when Chelsea decided to sell De Bruyne to Wolfsburg and Salah to Roma.
Since leaving west London, the pair have developed into two of the best players in the Premier League, causing several fans to criticise Chelsea and Mourinho’s decision to let them go.
Widely considered the best midfielder in world football when he’s on the pitch, De Bruyne has chalked up a rich portfolio of trophies at Manchester City, guiding Pep Guardiola’s side to the Treble last season.
Meanwhile, Salah – also a Premier League and Champions League winner – has relentlessly scored goals during his time at Liverpool, netting his 200th for the club last week against Crystal Palace.
Mourinho has revealed that both De Bruyne and Salah lacked patience at Stamford Bridge and wanted to leave in a bid to gain more first team opportunities.
‘To be honest, they left because they wanted to leave,’ Mourinho told the Obi One podcast. ‘They left because they didn’t want to wait.
‘History proves that their option was good because they’ve had the careers they have and reached a high standard, but sometimes kids make decisions like that because they can’t wait, or they don’t have the patience to be calm and to wait for the right moment. Sometimes their career goes in the wrong direction.’
Salah joined Chelsea from Basel in 2014 and made just 19 appearances for the club before underdoing a new chapter in Italy’s Serie A.
The Egyptian was loaned out to Fiorentina midway through Chelsea’s title-winning 2014-15 season and spent the next campaign on loan at Roma, who activated their £17million buy option to sign the forward in the summer.
Mourinho, who is now Roma head coach, revealed how he ‘made a war’ to bring Salah to Chelsea almost 10 years ago and urged that didn’t ‘let go’ of the forward.
The Portuguese boss added: ‘When people say I let Salah go, I say exactly the opposite. I bought Salah. I was the one who said buy that guy. He was going from Basel to Liverpool, and I made a fight, I made a war, to make him come to Chelsea.
‘Then comes the part when, to be a Chelsea player, you have to perform, or you need to wait. He didn’t want to wait, he wanted to go on loan. And then Chelsea, at a certain point, decided to sell. He went to Fiorentina and Roma, and that was not me deciding to sell. I was saying let him go on loan if he feels he needs to play every minute of every game.’
Meanwhile, De Bruyne made nine appearances for Chelsea during his two seasons at the club, spending the 2012-13 campaign on loan at Werder Bremen before joining Wolfsburg in 2014.
After just one season at the Bundesliga outfit, Manchester City lured the Belgian for £55million – the second most expensive British transfer in history at the time behind Manchester United’s signing of Angel Di Maria.
Comparing Salah’s departure to De Bruyne’s, Mourinho continued: ‘With Kevin, it was very similar. We went to pre-season in Asia. We went to Indonesia, Thailand, and Kevin was due to go on loan to a German side.
‘I told the club no, I don’t want him out on loan, I want him with me. He stayed with me, and he began the Premier League season playing in the starting 11.
‘After that, we played the European Super Cup in Prague against Bayern and he didn’t play that game. Then, the next day, he wants to leave.
‘We played the second Premier League game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford and we drew 0-0. He was on the bench and he played some minutes, but it wasn’t enough for him, so he wanted to leave.
‘When you are at Chelsea and you want to leave, go and another one comes. They were just kids who couldn’t wait, and their careers say they were right, but it wasn’t down to me. Probably other guys will say I pushed them out, but not them.’
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
