Manchester City ace Kevin de Bruyne has revealed how Jose Mourinho brutally bombed him out of Chelsea.

The midfielder made just three Premier League appearances for the club during the 2013-14 season, before he was sold to Wolfsburg during the January transfer window.

He returned to the Premier League with Manchester City a year-and-a-half later, and has gone on to become one of the best players in the world.

"There was so much in the press about my relationship with Jose Mourinho," De Bruyne told Sky Sports.

"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.

"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'.

"It took me a minute to understand what he was doing. Then he started reading the stats of the other attacking forwards - Willian, Oscar, (Juan) Mata, (Andre) Schurrle. 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."