10 Players Who Declined Under Mourinho
Top 10 Footballers Destroyed By Jose Mourinho
Despite calling himself ‘The Special One’, Jose Mourinho is known to stall and even kill some players careers due to his specific and different managerial approach, and today, SillySeason are going to look at 10-players that have declined under the Chelsea boss.
Now first off, we must state that Mourinho is a superb manager. His ability to win the big matches and win trophies is truly stunning, but he certainly has a reputation of killing some players careers.
Mourinho has been manager of FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and then Chelsea yet again, and most of the players on this list come from his time in England and Spain.
So lets waste no more time and look into the players that have declined under Mourinho’s management.
10. Juan Cuadrado
Juan Cuadrado had a stunning World Cup with Colombia and then continued his form into Serie A with Fiorentina, but in January, he completed his switch to Premier League side Chelsea in a deal worth around £23million.
The winger left Fiorentina with Mohamed Salah going the other way on a six-month loan deal, but Cuadrado simply couldn’t make an impact at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho barely picked his new signing and only seemed to have faith in him once the Premier League title was wrapped up.
Cuadrado still hasn’t scored for The Blues and could be off this summer.
9. Hamit Altintop
Another player Jose Mourinho brought into a club and then just left on the bench.
During his time in Spain with Real Madrid, Mourinho signed Altintop from Bayern Munich back in 2011, but during his short stint at the Bernabeu, he made just five La Liga appearances.
After failing to break into the first-team, he was sold a year later to Galatasaray, where he is still applying his trade.
8. Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah loved playing against Chelsea. He scored a few times in Europe against them during his time at FC Basel.
The Egyptian then snubbed a move to Tottenham Hotspur in order to join Chelsea, but he probably regrets that decision as he has failed to impress at West London.
Commonly used as a substitute, Salah failed to cement a first-team spot in Mourinho’s first-team and was then sent out on loan to Fiorentina.
After a superb loan stint, the winger wants to stay in Italy permanently.
7. Andriy Shevchenko
It would probably be harsh to blame all of Shevchenko‘s struggles on Jose Mourinho, but the Ukrainian striker certainly declined during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Shevchenko joined the side as one of the best strikers in the world, but simply couldn’t do it in England and flopped massively in the Premier League.
The deal to bring the striker to Stamford Bridge cost around £50million, but after just 48 Premier League games, and five goals, the Ukrainian international left the club on a free and joined AC Milan on loan before completing a permanent switch to Dynamo Kiev.
6. Nuri Sahin
Jose Mourinho signed him from Borussia Dortmund but then only gave him FOUR La Liga appearances.
Nuri Sahin was hotly tipped for a bright future after completing his move to the Bernabeu, but he simply couldn’t get into the first-team and never got to play regularly in Spain.
After struggling for three years, Sahin finally left the Spanish club and joined Liverpool on loan.
However, he went on to flop in England too and eventually returned to Dortmund.
5. Juan Mata
Juan Mata was Chelsea’s Player of the Season for two years in a row, but after Jose Mourinho arrived, his form drastically dropped, as did his importance at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho didn’t like Mata‘s style of play and criticised him for his defensive efforts, and by January, he was shipped out to Manchester United for £37million.
Chelsea fans were gutted to see the Spaniard leave and some are still furious that the playmaker was allowed to leave, especially after he joined a fierce-rival.
4. Filipe Luis
The Brazilian left-back came off a superb season with Atletico Madrid, winning the La Liga title and reaching the Champions League final, but then agreed to join Chelsea.
Luis followed Diego Costa in swapping Madrid for London, but sadly for the left-back, he couldn’t impress Mourinho like the striker did.
Often used as back-up to Cesar Azpilicueta, Luis has struggled for regular football and could already be in line with a shock return to Spain.
3. Ricardo Kaka
Kaka simply struggled at Real Madrid and it would be harsh to blame it all on Mourinho, but the Brazilian simply couldn’t impress in Spain.
After securing a move from AC Milan, Kaka was seen as one of the best players in the world, but he couldn’t show his Italian form in Spain and was drastically declining in La Liga with Madrid.
After Mourinho arrived at the Bernabeu, Kaka was rarely used as The Special One favoured Mesut Ozil in the number-10 role.
Eventually Kaka left and rejoined AC Milan.
2. Iker Casillas
Only a very brave man would treat Iker Casillas badly at Real Madrid. Well that’s what Jose Mourinho did.
As soon as he arrived he dropped the club legend and replaced him with Diego Lopez, and then had an ongoing war-of-words with the long-term number-one.
Mourinho even said in the press that his number-one regret in Spain was not signing an appropriate number-one sooner.
Ouch.
1. Pedro Leon
Now not many people may know of this guy, but he had a long ongoing feud with Jose Mourinho after arriving in Spain.
Several fall-outs with the manager saw Pedro Leon only make 6 La Liga appearances in three years before he was eventually sold to Getafe.
The first incident between Mourinho and Pedro came when the winger assumed he’d be starting a Champions League game. In doing so, he was dropped from the match-day squad by Mourinho and then ridiculed by the manager in the press.
Pedro was then involved in a fight with team-mate Fernando Gago during training, but the winger was punished more so than the midfielder, as he was dropped from the next game, whilst Gago started.
The Madrid player then blamed Mourinho TWICE for blocking potential moves away from the club. Once to Premier League side Chelsea and then once to Spanish side Hércules CF.