Chelsea attacker Eden Hazard has admitted that he would have loved to see former Chelsea teammate Kevin De Bruyne stay at the club and believes that the attacking midfielder will have a successful career.
After joining for a fee of a 8m in the 2012 winter transfer window, De Bruyne was tipped as the next Chelsea star as he had abundance potential to do so. At the time of joining, he was 21 years old and Chelsea realised that he needed games to develop. They let him stay at Genk for the remainder of the 2011-12 season. The season after, he was loaned out again, this time to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen where he flourished and managed to score 10 times in a total of 34 appearances. De Bruyne also provided 10 assists in the same campaign and was probably Bremen’s best player.
Hazard, who plays with De Bruyne in the national setup, told French publication L’Equipe, “He is a great player. Mourinho decided to let him go and not play him.
“It was not my decision, even though I know very well that he could play at Chelsea because he has tremendous qualities.
“I think at Chelsea, you have more pressure than Wolfsburg. It’s a shame he’s gone but he’ll have a successful career.”
Many pundits and Chelsea fans felt De Bruyne was ready to start his Chelsea career after a good season with Bremen. Mourinho, however, felt otherwise. The Belgian made just three appearances for Chelsea. Wolfsburg showed interest in the Chelsea midfielder and paid a hefty a 22m for his signature in the winter transfer window last season.
The investment has paid dividends for Dieter Hecking’s side as De Bruyne has had an impeccable season so far. He has recorded nine goals and 17 assists this season in the Bundesliga alone. Considering the DFB Pokal and Europa League, his tally of goals goes up to 14 and assist to 24.
Wolfsburg are Bayern Munich’s closest rivals for the title and will most likely qualify for the Champions League unless they go through a dire loss of form from now until the end of the season. They also beat Pep Guardiola’s side when the Bundesliga restarted in what was a rout with De Bruyne being at the heart of it all. With qualities that De Bruyne has, there is no surprise that Hecking has built the side around him. With eight games to go, Wolfsburg might find the 10-point lead a bit too much, but in De Bruyne, they sure have a player who can lead them to merrier times in the future.