Manchester City and Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne says he only spoke to former manager Jose Mourinho twice during his time at Chelsea.

"There was so much in the press about my relationship with Jose Mourinho," De Bruyne, 27, told the Players Tribune.

"But the truth is that I only ever spoke to him twice. The plan was always for me to go on loan for a bit."

De Bruyne said: "Mourinho texted me, 'You are staying. I want you to be part of this team'.

"So I thought, OK, great. I'm in his plans."

'I'd rather you sell me' - on leaving Chelsea

De Bruyne started two of the first four league games of the 2013-14 season, but soon fell out of favour with Mourinho and was dropped to the bench.

"Jose called me into his office in December, and it was probably the second big life-changing moment for me. He had some papers in front of him, and he said, 'One assist. Zero goals. Ten recoveries'," De Bruyne said.

"It took me a minute to understand what he was doing. Then he started reading the stats of the other attacking forwards - Willian, Oscar, Mata, Schürrle. And it's like - five goals, 10 assists, whatever.

"Jose was just kind of waiting for me to say something, and finally I said, 'But… some of these guys have played 15, 20 games. I've only played three. So it's going to be different, no?'

"It was so strange. I was completely honest. I said, 'I feel like the club doesn't really want me here. I want to play football. I'd rather you sell me.'"

The following month, De Bruyne joined Wolfsburg for £18m.