Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne had a 'massive training ground fight' with another player before his departure from Chelsea, according to Blues favourite John Obi Mikel.

De Bruyne signed for Chelsea from Belgian side Genk in 2012, before spending his first campaign as a Blues player on loan at Werder Bremen.

The midfielder scored 10 goals in 33 Bundesliga appearances for Bremen, and was named in Jose Mourinho's Premier League squad for the 2013/14 campaign.

But things didn't go to plan under Mourinho for the Belgian, and he was sold to Wolfsburg in 2014 after just nine appearances in all competitions.

Explaining his departure in 2021, Mourinho revealed to talkSPORT that he wanted to keep De Bruyne, and added: "He wanted to leave. He wanted to go to Germany where he was previously on loan and so happy, and his decision was to go.

"He put big pressure on that and it worked very well for him."

De Bruyne has, of course, since developed into one of the world's best midfielders, with perhaps his finest triumph being when he lifted the Champions League trophy with Manchester City last season - despite going off injured in the first half of the final.

He is worlds away from the young player that struggled to break into the Chelsea side almost 10 years ago - and Blues icon Mikel has made a claim about why he decided to leave Stamford Bridge.

Speaking on the 'Obi One Podcast' alongside ex-Chelsea team-mate John Terry, Mikel explained: "He always head down, he was always angry.

"When Samuel Eto'o had a go at him, they had a massive fight on the training ground because he wasn't putting in the effort that Samuel Eto'o wanted. They had a massive row on the pitch.

"We didn't expect them [De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, who played for Chelsea at the same time] to be where they are today. But credit to them, they've gone away and they've done what they had to do.

"They've improved and they've become world superstars. When I watch Kevin De Bruyne play today, I think, 'Is he the same guy?'"

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