Wolfsburg midfielder Kevin De Bruyne says the end of his Chelsea career was inevitable due to the number of big-money signings he had to compete with for a place in the team.
De Bruyne, 23, left the Blues for Wolfsburg in January, going on to help the club secure a first return to Europe since 2009, while helping them up to second in the Bundesliga this season.
The Belgium international made the move after failing to break into the starting XI at Stamford Bridge following his 6.7 million-pound transfer from Genk in 2012.
However, De Bruyne feels he was doomed to fail at Chelsea from the start, given his transfer fee did not match that of the likes of Eden Hazard and Willian.
"I also played well there, but it is like it often is in football: The new 30 million-euro signing gets more minutes than the 10 million-euro signing," De Bruyne told Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.
De Bruyne added that he is convinced he did the right thing in leaving the Blues and that he joined the right club in Wolfsburg.
"I came here from Chelsea. That's a club where you have everything you wish for -- physios, three doctors and the food you want. That's a different world," he said. "But you can't compare the clubs. Chelsea have way more money than Wolfsburg. However, for a German club Wolfsburg have a lot of options, and they want to get to the top."
Meanwhile, in an interview with kicker, De Bruyne spoke of the differences between playing under Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking.
"I think that he [Mourinho] is a good coach. But nobody thinks it's fun to not play," he said. "Dieter Hecking talks to me much more, that wasn't the case before. Mourinho did not analyse the game before or after. He only talked about the opponents for five minutes."