Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that midfielder Kevin
De Bruyne will be leaving the club this month, however, has ruled out
the sale of Eden Hazard in the Summer.
Reports came out yesterday
suggesting that the Belgium midfielder, who has been in superb form this
season, had told his friends that he was going to quit Stamford Bridge
at the end of the season in order to go back to France and join Paris
Saint-Germain.
As for his countryman, De Bruyne, he will be
leaving the club this month after interest from German side Wolfsburg
intensified, and during his press conference yesterday, Mourinho
confirmed the news that he will be on his way out.
‘He has a
chance to go,’ said the Blues boss. ‘He is a player that Chelsea have a
couple of proposals. We keep analysing these proposals.
‘One of them is coming into a level which we believe can be a good situation for the player and also for the club.
‘We know he is a fantastic young player with lots of potential.
‘I
still say I would be happy to keep him and to develop him, but we also
have to analyse the player’s profile and the player’s personality and he
wants so much to go, so maybe it’s a good option to let him go, in a
very good deal for the club from a financial point of view.
‘The club bought him a few years ago for a small fee and now we have the possibility to sell him for a positive amount.’
‘Not agreed [a fee] but I believe between our club and the other club we will reach an agreement,’ he added.
‘The interest is big from the club, even bigger from the player. So maybe in the next couple of weeks it will be finalised.
‘We
don’t need a direct replacement. I think the reason why we open the
door to negotiate is because it’s a position where we have options.
‘So
between [Andre] Schurrle, Willian, [Eden] Hazard, [Juan] Mata, Oscar,
Ramires, it’s not a position where you sell somebody and you run to
cover the position.’
However, regarding the speculation of Hazard
leaving, Mourinho was pretty clear that he has no intentions of selling
his star-man.
‘I’m not worried because if his value was around
£40m when Chelsea bought him, two years later his value is two or three
times that amount,’ he said.
‘So with our tag not to sell and with the crazy amount we would value him at, Eden is not leaving.’
