Many people have blamed Jose Mourinho for Chelsea allowing both Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah to leave the club, but he has explained why both players, who have since become Premier League greats, left the Blues when they did! Here's our reaction.
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Due to the career he has had at Manchester City, some of us can't fathom how De Bruyne didn't work out at Chelsea, whom he joined in 2012 and left just two years later. During his time at the Blues, the Belgian made only nine appearances, all under Mourinho, before signing for Wolfsburg in 2014. He eventually returned to England when he signed for City in 2015, and is considered one of the best midfielders to have ever graced the Premier League today. Salah's story, meanwhile, is similar. The Egyptian made his way to England in 2014, penning a deal with Chelsea following an impressive year and a half at Basel in Switzerland, but appeared in just 19 games for the club before leaving permanently for Roma in 2016.
Over the years, as a result of the excellent careers they've both enjoyed in arguably the most competitive league in world football, Mourinho has been criticised for the way he treated both players in London. Let's, however, take a look at Mourinho's latest comments on the Belgian and Egypt superstars.
Mourinho: "To be honest, they left because they wanted to leave. 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."
Kurt: Based on remarks made by both De Bruyne and Salah in the past, Mourinho is absolutely spot on here! In 2021, during an interview with Sky Sports, De Bruyne said he "decided" to leave Chelsea as he felt he didn't have a good chance of getting regular game time. The Belgium international admitted his spell at the Blues was a "low point" in his career, and has also previously said he doesn't hate Mourinho for what happened. Salah, meanwhile, stated in 2022 that he chose to move on, first on loan, from the club in order to prove his doubters wrong. So, when it comes to the criticism Mourinho has received for the club having sold them, perhaps it is unfair to point fingers at the now-Roma manager, but perhaps he could be judged for not having utilised both the midfielder and winger more often at Stamford Bridge. Even then, however, they certainly weren't the players they are today! They were younger, had less experience at a high level, and maybe both of them needed that difficult ordeal in England to learn from. Perhaps without Chelsea selling them when they did, City and Liverpool supporters wouldn't have had the joy they've had!
Mourinho: "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."
Kurt: Mourinho was in charge of the Blues at the time of De Bruyne's departure, but had been sacked before Chelsea sanctioned Salah's sale to Roma in 2016. The Portuguese tactician, following a torrid string of results, was fired in December of 2015, months prior to the Egyptian winger's permanent switch to the Italian club the following year. So, again, Mourinho is correct in saying he wasn't responsible for the path Chelsea and Salah later agreed to! However, maybe he is doing a good job of distracting his critics from the actual criticism he has received. Not often have I read online about Mourinho "selling" Salah, but I have seen the manager get stick for the way he used him, and for how the lack of minutes he gave to Salah ultimately encouraged the club to cash in on him.
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Do you think Mourinho was wrong not to make better use of De Bruyne and Salah at the Blues?
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