The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mourinho

  • Mourinho ‘suggested’ Boro for Omeruo

    Mourinho ‘suggested’ Boro for Omeruo

    Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo, is settling into life at Teesside after completing a loan switch to Championship side, Middleborough.

    Omeruo, who joined the Smoggies from English Premier League club, Chelsea, completed his first training session for Boro on Wednesday and spoke to the club’s official television station afterwards on his impressions about life at the Riverside Stadium.

    The 20-year-old revealed amongst others, that he was advised to positively embrace his latest expedition by the Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho.

    “Jose (Mourinho) is my boss and it will be good for me to come here and he gets to watch me. I have also met the (Boro) trainer, (Aitor Karanka). He’s a really nice guy and a good person to work with.

    “Mourinho has a very good relationship with Karanka and he advised me to come here (to Boro). He said it was going to be a very good move for me,” supersport.com quoted Omeruo as saying on the club television.

    Karanka watched Omeruo’s first training session on Wednesday and shared his thoughts afterwards with the club’s official website, mfc.co.uk.

    “Kenneth is a strong defender and I think we need to improve in this area. I know him. Jose Mourinho has told me about him and I think he’s going to be very good for us to add to the squad,” Karanka said.

    Omeruo’s loan deal with Boro runs till the end of the 2013/14 season.

     

  • Mourinho has ‘faith’ in Omeruo

    Mourinho has ‘faith’ in Omeruo

    Chelsea defender, Kenneth Omeruo, has been told he has a future at the club by Portuguese manager, Jose Mourinho.

    Omeruo spent the 2012/13 season on loan at Eredivisie club, ADO Den Haag where he made 27 appearances in the league.

    He opted not to renew the alliance with the Alles Door Oefening and returned to Stamford Bridge instead.

    Four months into the 2013/14 season, the 20-year-old has just a handful of youth team appearances under his belt and with several talents at the disposal of the “Special One,” Omeruo’s chances of forcing his way into the first-team look pretty grim.

    The centre-half however believes he did not make a mistake not renewing his loan deal at Den Haag and explained that Mourinho has assured him that he will eventually get his chance at Chelsea.

    “I did not make a mistake leaving ADO Den Haag. It was time to move on and only injury has slowed me down this season,” Omeruo told supersport.com.

    Omeruo injured his shoulder in the summer and after undergoing a surgical procedure to repair the damage, the centre-half made a return to duty and even played for Nigeria in a World Cup qualifying playoff against Ethiopia on November 16.

    He believes his career is now back on track.

     

  • Messi, Ronaldo, Bale on Ballon d’Or shortlist

    Messi, Ronaldo, Bale on Ballon d’Or shortlist

    …Ferguson, Scolari, Mourinho for coach award

    FIFA and France Football on Tuesday revealed the names for the men’s Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards.

    The final decisions, according to fifa.com will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men’s national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football.

    The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 13 2014, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Puskás Award – for the most beautiful goal of the year – the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented.

    The list of 23 male candidates has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France Football. The list of ten coaches has been drawn up by the Committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s World Cup and by the FIFA Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France Football.

    In early December , FIFA and France Football will announce the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners).

    The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards, goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders will also be unveiled in early December.

     

    Men’s shortlists:

     

    Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands) and Xavi (Spain).

     

    Coaches’ shortlists:

    Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Paris Saint-Germain FC/Real Madrid CF), Rafael Benítez (Spain/Chelsea FC/SSC Napoli), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC former coach), Jupp Heynckes (Germany/FC Bayern München former coach), Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF/Chelsea FC), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil/Brazil national team) and Arsène Wenger (France/Arsenal FC).

     

  • Omeruo impresses Mourinho in Chelsea training

    Omeruo impresses Mourinho in Chelsea training

    Kenneth Omeruo has caught the eye of manager Jose Mourinho during Chelsea training, MTNFootball.com reports.

    “Kenneth has impressed Mourinho at training with Chelsea and it is looking very good for him now since his surgery for a shoulder problem,” the player’s adviser Chika Akujobi informed MTNFootball.com

    “The ‘Special One’ has taken special interest in the player. He wants to give him a chance but first Kenneth must regain full match fitness.”

    Mourinho is expected to soon take a decision on the immediate future of the 20-year-old defender, whether he stays put at Chelsea or goes on a short-term loan.

    Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has already said he hopes to call up Omeruo for next month’s World Cup final playoff against Ethiopia in Calabar.

     

     

  • Mourinho sacrifices Mikel

    Mourinho sacrifices Mikel

    • As stakes go high

    Jose Mourinho may just have sacrificed Super Eagles midfielder, John Obi Mikel, as the Portuguese took him off and brought on Juan Mata for the second half against Tottenham.

    The stakes were raised in the English Premiership on Saturday, as Spurs took a first half lead, with Mourinho likely to blame the Nigerian defensive midfielder for the error that led to the goal.

    Mikel had slowed down as the Spurs midfielders buzzed past him, and failed to track back as Spurs went on and scored the goal.

    Mourinho then took Mikel off at half time, moved David Luiz to the defensive midfield role, and pushed Mata into the other creative space beside Oscar.

    This formula seemed to work, as Chelsea played better and scored the equaliser through John Terry off a Mata assist.

    The fear is that this may be the formation Mourinho will stick with, as the Portuguese continue to look for what will best work for him at Chelsea.

  • Mourinho drops Mikel

    Mourinho drops Mikel

    Super Eagles and Chelsea holding midfielder ,John Obi Mikel, was excluded from coach Jose Mourinho’s squad that jetted out to South East Asia for their pre-season tour, while compatriot Victor Moses made the trip.

    The squad list made available on the club’s official website revealed that the Nigerian star who has been heavily linked with a summer move to Turkey will not be part of the Blues preparations for the coming season.

    Accompanying Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff during the first leg of the tour in Thailand will be a star-studded group of players including 17 full internationals, plus a selection of the promising young talents being developed by the club and all three new signings,Andre Schurrle, Marco van Ginkel and Mark Schwarzer..

    First stop is Bangkok where the players will take part in a week-long training and attend coaching clinics in the local community before the first match of the tour next Wednesday. After that the capital cities of Malaysia and Indonesia will host the Blues for further games.

    The squad:

    Petr Cech, Mark Schwarzer, Jamal Blackman, Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Tomas Kalas, Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Josh McEachran, Marco van Ginkel, Ramires, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Victor Moses, Andre Schurrle, Demba Ba, Romelu Lukaku, Sam Walker, Nathaniel Chalobah, Lucas Piazon, Islam Feruz.

  • Jese Rodriguez: Mourinho never gave me a chance

    ese Rodriguez has slammed Jose Mourinho for not giving him enough opportunities to shine at Real Madrid, claiming that he deserves a more prominent role.

    The 20-year-old winger is considered one of los Blancos’ brightest prospects but, despite making 38 appearances and scoring 22 times for the reserves last season, did not turn out once for the senior team.

    And Rodriguez believes that the Chelsea manager overlooked the club’s youngsters during his three-year reign at the Bernabeu.

    “Maybe last year club thought that they don’t need to have more youth players and Mourinho thought he needed to sign players from outside the club,” he told AS.

    “I think maybe I deserved more opportunities. Anyway this was what Mourinho thought and he isn’t here now, so let’s what will happen in the future and what the new coach thinks.”

    Rodriguez went on to say that he thoroughly enjoys the atmosphere at the Santiago Beranbeu and that he hopes to learn from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo.

    “[Alberto] Toril, as with [Aitor] Karanka, has been instrumental in my career thanks to his work this season and has taught me a lot training with me every day.

    “I have a very good relationship with all the first team players – Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, Alvaro Morata, Xabi Alonso. I’ve spent the most time with Ramos.

    “I look up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the dressing room. It’s impossible not to. He’s one of best players in the world and I have a lot to learn from him.”

  • 2013/2014 Season: Mourinho okays Omeruo

    2013/2014 Season: Mourinho okays Omeruo

    Super Eagles defender Kenneth Omeruo has moved closer to joining Chelsea following a seal of approval by returning boss Jose Mourinho.

    Reports say the defender is now 95% certain of finally joining Chelsea in the coming season as Mourinho wants to work with Kenneth after watching him at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    Omeruo’s inclusion in the Super Eagles final squad for this month’s FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil has enhanced his chances of joining the London club.

    The young Eagles defender, who has represented Nigeria at U-17 and U-20 levels, played a total of 26 matches and scored two goals in his time at Ado Den Haag.

    Omeruo was called into the senior Nigeria squad ahead of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, and after coming on as a substitute during their opening game against Burkina Faso, he played the full 90 minutes in the following four matches as the Super Eagles reached the final, where Nigeria was eventually crowned King of Africa after piping Burkina Faso 1-0.

  • Mourinho okays Omeruo for Chelsea

    Mourinho okays Omeruo for Chelsea

    Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo, has moved closer to joining Chelsea following a seal of approval by returning boss Jose Mourinho.

    Representatives of Omeruo specially informed MTNFootball.com that the young central defender is now “95 per cent certain” to join the English Premier League club after he earned Mourinho’s approval.

    “It is now 95 per cent certain that Kenneth will finally team up with Chelsea for the coming season. Mourinho has said he wants to work with Kenneth after watching him at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in South Korea,” disclosed a representative, who declined to have his name in print.

    “He watched him against Didier Drogba at the Nations Cup and he said he liked what he saw.

    “He will therefore not be heading back to Dutch club ADO Den Haag, where he has spent the last one and half seasons on loan.”

    Omeruo’s inclusion in Nigeria final squad for this month’s FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil has enhanced his chances of joining the London club.

    MTNFootball.com specially gathered that Chelsea officials plan to apply the special talent case to get the 19-year-old Omeruo to England, just as they did in the case of compatriot Mikel Obi.

    Omeruo will not qualify for a work permit in England as he has not played 75 per cent of his country’s games in the last two years having only made his full international debut against Cape Verde in January.

    The young Eagles defender, who has represented Nigeria at U-17 and U-20 levels, played a total of 26 matches and scored two goals in his time at ADO Den Haag.

     

  • Mourinho confirms Chelsea return

    Mourinho confirms Chelsea return

    Jose Mourinho has confirmed he will be named Chelsea manager by the end of the week, insisting the admiration Blues fans have for him made the decision easier.
    “I’m going to London on Monday and at the end of the week I will be the manager of Chelsea,” Mourinho told Punto Pelota. “I feel the people there love me and in life you have to look for that. Life is beautiful and short and you must look for what you think is best for you.”