"Mourinho, what does he know?" - Martin Keown takes dig at former Chelsea boss for transfer decision during his time at the Blues

Former Arsenal captain Martin Keown had a go at former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho for his decision to sell Kevin De Bruyne.

Mourinho took charge of the Blues in the 2013-14 season when a young De Bruyne was a part of his squad at Stamford Bridge.

The Portuguese manager did not allow the Belgian to play too many games due to his young age, leading to the playmaker seeking a transfer away from the club.

Keown, who was part of the BT Sports commentary team last night for the game between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, slammed Mourinho's decision to let go De Bruyne.

De Bruyne scored the only goal of the match last night in the Champions League quarter-final first leg between City and Madrid, after which Keown said:

"To think that Chelsea thought he wasn't good enough. Mourinho, what does he know?"

De Bruyne is currently one of the best players in world football, playing a key role in City's three Premier League triumphs.

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Mourinho recounts his Chelsea story with Kevin De Bruyne

As far as recounts go, who better to hear the story of what happened between Chelsea and De Bruyne than from Mourinho himself. Here's his version of the event (told to TalkSport, reported via FootballLondon):

"My story with Kevin was fun. It worked well in the end for him. I arrived at Chelsea in my second spell and we go to Asia to play some matches and to train. Kevin was supposed to come with us in another group of players who would leave on loan after Asia. He impressed me so much that I made the decision: 'I don't want this kid to go out on loan, I want this kid to stay'."

Mourinho continued:

"First match of the season we played at home against Hull and he started the first match of the Premier League. Second match we go to Old Trafford and after this, he came to me and said: 'I want to play every match, I want to play every minute'. He was supposed to go on loan and he wasn't happy to stay and grow up there.

Mourinho went on to reveal how De Bruyne's career panned out due to the flow of incidents at the club.

"He by himself put a lot of pressure to leave. He wanted to go Germany where he was previously on loan and so happy in the Bundesliga. This decision was to go and he put huge pressure on that which worked very well for him and Chelsea sold him in the end. The quality of the player is amazing now. He's top five in the world.."

Mourinho is currently in charge of AS Roma.