Jose Mourinho is not one to look the other way when his reputation is at stake. He provides facts to correct untrue claims, which is good for posterity. Until Saturday, the notion was that Mourinho sold Egypt’s sensation Mohammed Salah to Roma FC to enjoy regular first team shirt.
Last week, I alluded to this submission and thought it expedient to restate Mourinho’s new position on the matter for fairness. Mourinho told the international media that he bought Salah from Basle FC of Switzerland in January 2014 for £14million, branding the whole scenario a ‘lie’ and ‘another injustice’.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, Mourinho said: ‘’It is the first time that I am going to say this, but it is another injustice that has been talked about me.
‘’People say that I was the one that sold Salah and it is the opposite. I bought Salah. I was the one that told Chelsea to buy Salah. It was with me in charge that Salah came to Chelsea. But he came as a young kid. Physically, he was not ready, mentally he was not ready, socially and culturally, he was lost and everything was tough for him.
‘’We decided to put him on loan and he asked for that as well. He wanted to play more minutes, to mature. He wanted to go and we sent him on loan to Fiorentina and at Fiorentina he started to mature.
‘’Chelsea decided to sell him, OK? And when they say that I was the one that sold him, it is a lie. I bought him. I agreed to send him on loan. I thought it was necessary. I thought that Chelsea had wingers.
Some of them are still there like Willian, Eden Hazard and all those players already in a different level.
‘’Effectively, I did buy Salah. I didn’t sell Salah, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that he is a fantastic player, and I am really happy for everything that is happening for him and especially because he scores against everyone and he didn’t score against us in two games.’’
Well said Jose, even though we know that if you needed him, he wouldn’t have been released. All that is in the past. One thing is clear, Mourinho gave the English game the spark that made it the most talked about competition in Europe with his mind games, which help raise the stakes before such games.
Mind games helped Mourinho unsettle inexperienced managers just as it gave the witty one an insight of what to expect from his opponents, for those who responded. I wonder what the English game would have been without Mourinho.
In fact, any game involving Mourinho and Arsene Wenger was best illustrated with the caricatures of both men in gloves slugging it out inside the ring and Mourinho didn’t disappoint with his theatrics, which Wenger bought until he became wiser. Mourinho enjoyed seeing Wenger angry, which is the hallmark of his mind games. Lovers of Mourinho’s coaching savvy are glad that he gave Wenger cause to smile on match day last week, unlike in the past when we would have been talking about the fallouts of Sunday’s match at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester.
Wenger will definitely remember last Sunday, although he would lament the late winner scored by Fellani. He would have loved a drawn game, more so, as another King of the Dugout, Sir Alex Ferguson, gave him a plaque, which he will cherish for life. Wenger’s 22 years of coaching in the English game ranks next to Ferguson’s. Together, they changed the face of the game with their unique approaches, culminating in all the momentous scenes in their era at Arsenal and Manchester United.
Wenger stayed 22 years at Arsenal, winning three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and seven Community Shield titles. Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United 26 years, winning 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, and two UEFA Champions League titles.
Unlike Mourinho, Ferguson was a gentleman who knew his onions and concerned himself strictly with the game, not its theatrics. Ferguson recognised Wenger as an old adversary at Arsenal, stressing on Sunday: “I am really happy for Arsene Wenger.”
Sir Alex told ManUtd.com: “I have great respect for him and for the job he has done at Arsenal. It is great testament to his talent, professionalism and determination that he has been able to dedicate 22 years of his life to a job that he loves. In an era where football managers sometimes only last one or two seasons, it shows what an achievement it is to serve that length of time at a club the size of Arsenal.
“I am pleased that he has announced he is leaving at this stage of the season, as he can now have the send-off that he truly deserves. He is, without doubt, one of the greatest Premier League managers and I am proud to have been a rival, a colleague and a friend to such a great man.”
Mourinho confirmed his class when he revealed: “If he (Wenger) is happy, I am happy. If he is sad, I am sad. I always wish the best for my opponents. I always wish the best.
“For me, that is the point. If he is happy with the decision he made and looks forward to the next chapter of his career and his life, I am really happy for him. If he is sad, I am sad.
“I am pretty sure that we as a club – especially because Mr Wenger and Arsenal were for many, many years the biggest rivals of the Sir Alex era – will show Mr Wenger the respect that he deserves.”
Mourinho is an enigma. He is not in a hurry to change his ways. With Wenger out of the arithmetics of winning trophies in England at least, Mourinho has chosen another opponent, Antonio Conte, who he taunts before games against his former Barclays English Premier League side, Chelsea. Conte has all Mourinho’s sideline theatrics, except that he doesn’t kick objects in frustration as Mourinho does to attract the officials’ wrath. The Italian fell for Mourinho’s match day mind games and it almost became a roforofo fight, apologies to the late Afrobeat star Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Mourinho’s and Conte’s saga began after Chelsea whipped Manchester United 4-0 at Stamfrod Bridge in October 2016, with one Italian television station reporting that Mourinho told Conte: ‘’You don’t celebrate like that at 4-0, you can do it at 1-0, otherwise it’s humiliating for us.’’
It was alleged that Mourinho’s frustration boiled over after the final whistle on grounds that Conte’s exuberant celebrations suggested that he had humiliated Mourinho, given the high score from the game.
Mourinho knows how to win either the battle or the war. He likes delivering the last punch and he did when he described Chelsea’s last season’s Barclays English Premier League title win thus: ‘’Chelsea are a very good defensive team. I think in this situation a very defensive team wins the title with counter-attack goals and set-piece goals.’’
Conte learned the mind games’ trick quickly and jabbed Mourinho last season after Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup for spending over £150m only to finish sixth in the league.
The Italian said: ‘’This season it’s very important to understand that it’s not always about who spends more money who wins. This season isn’t the only season both Manchester clubs have spent a lot of money. We know the difficulty of the next season and for sure we want to avoid the Mourinho season with Chelsea. Two years ago the team ended the league in 10th place and we want to try to avoid this.’’
Curiously, both men meet again in the final of the English FA Cup at Wembley on the 19th of May. Will they tear at each other in the build-up to the oldest competition in Britain? Happily, Conte feels there isn’t any war with Mourinho. “With Jose, we have clarified the situation. This is the most important thing,” he said.
“There is not a problem between him and I. I think this final is a game between two great teams: Manchester United and Chelsea. For sure, in my mind, I can tell you that we played last season in the final and arrived as favourites against Arsenal. This season, we are arriving not as favourites. But, as you know very well, we lost the final despite being favourites in my mind.
“We are talking about two managers with strong characters, and two winners. When in your mind and your heart and your blood there is the will to win, for sure, we want to try to win this trophy. The same way Manchester United want to do this. I repeat. I have great respect for United’s story, for Mourinho’s story. They have the same respect, I think, for Chelsea’s story and my story.”
I don’t expect Mourinho to do any mind games. He must have read Conte’s comments and I expect one stunt from him – Mourinho may wait for Conte at the tunnel before entering the field to shake hands. That is Mourinho for you- the man for the big occasions . Take a bow, Jose Mourinho.
