Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has said that the controversial loan system of Chelsea was the reason why he left the Blues in January 2014 to join Wolfsburg in an £18 million deal.

The Belgian initially joined the Blues on deadline day in January 2012 but remained with Genk until the end of that season. He was then sent to German club Werder Bremen on loan the following season where he shined.

After a series of impressive performances for Wolfsburg after leaving Chelsea, De Bruyne returned to England via his £55 million move to Manchester City. He has blossomed into one of the world's best players under Pep Guardiola and scored the winning goal against his former club Chelsea last weekend as the Citizens won 1-0.

Whilst commenting on why he left Chelsea, he said, "After those experiences, I'd rather wanted to be sold.

"Otherwise, I would end up in the same situation all over again: playing well on loan, returning to your parent club and then, every year again, feel like the young player back from loan who still has everything to prove."

"That's something I didn't want to experience for the third time in a row. Let's say that I would perform well at Wolfsburg, that I would play a good World Cup and that I would return to Chelsea afterwards with the same status that I had before."

"No, I didn't fancy that. I decided to leave on a permanent basis. At Chelsea they wanted me to stay, but I had the feeling I wouldn't get a fair chance."

"That's why I wanted to move to a club that wanted to pay Chelsea's asking price."