"He was always grumpy" - Former Chelsea player lifts lid on Kevin de Bruyne's failure at Stamford Bridge

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel recently revealed Kevin de Bruyne's attitude during his time at Stamford Bridge.

De Bruyne joined the Blues from KRC Genk in January 2012 but made just nine senior appearances for the club. He spent two loan spells at Genk and Werder Bremen before permanently moving to VfL Wolfsburg in 2014.

Speaking about the Belgian midfielder's time at Stamford Bridge, Mikel said (via Daily Star):

"Kevin was always a stroppy guy, he was always on his own, he was always moody, he was always grumpy. You could never get anything out of him. But now when I watch him play... what a joy. What a joy to watch."

De Bruyne also opened up about his time at Chelsea in the past and wrote in the Players Tribunal:

"I was a bit naive about the way that you have to handle yourself as a Premier League footballer. What I think most fans don’t realise is that when you’re out of favour at a club, you don’t get nearly the same attention during training. At some clubs, it’s like you don’t exist anymore... When I got another chance to play, against Swindon Town in the Cup, I wasn’t in good shape."

He added:

"And then that was pretty much it for me. José called me into his office in December, and it was probably the second big life-changing moment for me. He had some papers in front of him, and he said, 'One assist. Zero goals. Ten recoveries'."

While De Bruyne's spell at Chelsea didn't work out, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest Premier League midfielders of all time.

The Belgian joined Manchester City from Wolfsburg in 2015 and has since scored 90 goals and provided 135 assists in 337 games for the club.

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Chelsea manager Graham Potter on needing to win against Southampton

The Blues will host Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, February 18. Speaking ahead of the game, Graham Potter highlighted the need to win the game, as he said (via Football.London):

"I think it's a game that we want to win because we're playing at home and we want to win. It's as simple as that. As I've said before there's no point thinking about four months away. We're focused on the next match which is Southampton."

He added:

"As we know from earlier on in the season, any game you play in the Premier League, it's always complicated, it's always tough. So we have to be ready for that challenge. We play at home and try to take the three points."

Chelsea are currently 10th in the Premier League table, 10 points behind fourth-placed Newcastle United.