De Bruyne: Mourinho stopped me from joining Klopp at Dortmund

Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne revealed Jose Mourinho talked him out of a move to sign for Borussia Dortmund while he was still with Chelsea.

Jurgen Klopp had attempted to sign him in the summer of 2013 but the Blues' rejected the overtures of the German side, with Mourinho promising the talented youngster more playing time after he had returned from an excellent loan spell at Werder Bremen.

However, the Belgian failed to break into the Portuguese's first-team plans and was sold to Wolfsburg the following January, where he was named Bundesliga Player of the Year last season before earning a €74 million transfer to Premier League big-spenders Manchester City.

De Bruyne will face Klopp when his Liverpool side visit Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and the 24-year-old has spoken of his admiration for the new Reds' manager.

“I had a personal agreement [with Klopp],” De Bruyne told The Telegraph. “I asked the club [Chelsea] to go because I had a good feeling about Dortmund at the time. I had been good in Germany and he [Klopp] really wanted me because [Mario] Gotze went to Bayern Munich.

"He called me, and said ‘You will be the No 1’ at a team who had been second in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League final.

“At the time I thought it was a good decision to go but the manager [Mourinho] told me ‘You need to stay and you will get your chance here’. I accepted it and we moved on. I think he [Klopp] is a good trainer.

"I saw the way Dortmund played and they [Liverpool] play the same style. He tries to do the same. He is new here, and it will take some time. In the seven years he was there he did a magnificent job.”

De Bruyne added that he does not feel the pressure of his price tag, and is happy that he has been able to make an impact in the rise of Manuel Pellegrini's men to the top of the Premier League.

"In Belgium it [the transfer] was really big," he continued. "They talk a lot about how much I cost and how much I earn – even if they don’t know!

"I expected a lot more to be honest. So that’s good. It doesn’t bother me. In the end football is a big business, there is a lot of money but I’m not the only one. I am in a team with a lot of people who earn a lot of money and who were bought for a lot of money. In the end it is the same.

“If I see someone I think is in a better position than me it is better for me to give the ball. Now I shoot more at goal. When I was young they sometimes said to me, ‘You need to shoot more, you try to give it too much’. It is something that I learned. To try to take the best option.

"You need also to enjoy your time when you are playing football because it goes so quickly. In the end, for me, football is still a game. Even if you are a professional you need to have fun when you are on the field. If you don’t enjoy your job, you don’t have fun.”