Kevin de Bruyne
De Bruyne will not be leaving in January, agent insists. (Reuters)

Kevin de Bruyne will not leave Chelsea in January despite being ordered to train with the club's under-21 side, according to the Belgian's agent.

The Belgian international started his career at Stamford Bridge brightly as he impressed in the club's opening two games of the season, but has since been dropped and exiled from the first team for a perceived lack of effort in training by Jose Mourinho.

No sooner had the Blues manager announced his decision the 22-year-old was linked with a January move back to the Bundesliga. De Bruyne spent a successful season on loan with Werder Bremen last campaign and the club have announced they would be more than happy to take him back, but the player's agent insists his client will "continue fighting" for a starting berth in west London.

"This summer we decided to stay with Chelsea and we knew the competition would be hard and that Kevin had to fight," De Bruyne's agent Patrick De Koster told Bild.

"He will continue fighting.

"I have no contact to other clubs. Even if we were in the transfer period I would not have any contact."

De Bruyne was left out of the Chelsea squad for the club's 4-0 win over Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League. When quizzed on the Belgian's omission, Mourinho called a halt to his press conference and left the table, a move likely born out of frustration with the press rather than of uncertainty of De Bruyne's future.

After Chelsea's clash with Norwich City on Sunday, the squad will break up for an international break with De Bruyne's Belgium able to seal their place in the 2014 World Cup by taking just a point from games against Croatia and Wales.

With the competition for starting positions in Marc Wilmots attack as intense as you will find in any nation, De Koster believes time spent on the Chelsea bench or out of the squad altogether will not do De Bruyne's World Cup chances any good.

"For his stand in the national team it would be better if he played frequently," De Koster added.