Borussia Dortmund have accused Chelsea of letting their bitterness at missing out on Robert Lewandowski make them scupper BVB’s chances of signing Kevin De Bruyne, reports the Daily Star.
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The Blues tried to sign Lewandowski when his contract at the Westfalenstadion ended last summer. However, they ended up missing out, and the Poland international went to Bayern Munich instead. Jose Mourinho didn’t end up doing that badly though, signing Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid instead.
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has now opened up on what he believes that situation cost his side. The Bundesliga giants wanted to sign Kevin De Bruyne from the Stamford Bridge outfit in the same transfer window, but he claims the Premier League champions refused to do business with them after losing the battle to sign Lewandowski.
He said: “Lewandowski decided to join Bayern Munich on a free transfer and when Dortmund tried to sign De Bruyne, Chelsea made matters difficult. It [signing De Bruyne] would have fitted well into the planning.
“But the conditions could not be agreed. Chelsea were unwilling to let him go because they were angry that Robert Lewandowski had not gone to Chelsea.”
It would seem to have been a big miss for BVB, who have struggled throughout this season to finally finish in the Europa League qualification places. Meanwhile De Bruyne has scored 15 goals and created another 25 for domestic rivals Wolfsburg, who he ended up signing for.