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Jose Mourinho's reputation follows him wherever he goes. That includes both positive and negative elements.
It goes without saying that The Special One's legacy has taken a little beating after his dream job at Manchester United ended in a sacking, but the Portuguese remains one of the most successful managers of all time.
Currently in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho is one of only five managers to have won the Champions League with two different clubs (Porto and Inter Milan) and has won silverware wherever he has gone, including with a middling Manchester United team. He has also achieved league success with Real Madrid and taken Chelsea to the summit of the English game.
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However, he has often faced criticism for being ultra-defensive and overly pragmatic at times, and his no-nonsense approach to man management has sometimes worked and at times backfired.
Ten players who flopped under Jose Mourinho
Notably, many star players who have found success before or after their spells under Mourinho, flopped under the flamboyant coach. In this article, we will take a look at ten such players who struggled to make their mark under Jose Mourinho.
#10 Nuri Sahin
Nuri Sahin found his place in the Sun with Borussia Dortmund, with whom he won the Bundesliga and bagged a dream move to Real Madrid through his exploits in Germany.
At the time of signing for Los Blancos in 2011, Sahin had said that the chance to play under Jose Mourinho was one of the reasons why he made the move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
However, it turned out to be a nightmare move for the Turkish midfielder as he made only four league appearances for the Spanish club in three years before being shipped to Liverpool. He finally ended up back at Dortmund where he stayed till 2018.
#9 Mateja Kezman
After becoming one of the most prolific strikers in the world with PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, Mateja Kezman sealed a highly-anticipated move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in 2004. However, he could only find the net seven times in 40 games for Chelsea, returns that were considered meagre from the much-touted marksman.
Mateja Kezman subsequently moved on to Atletico Madrid after being dubbed a flop at Stamford Bridge, but could never really rediscover the form that made him a feared striker at Eindhoven and Partizan. His subsequent spell at Fenerbahce proved more successful, though.
#8 Fabio Coentrao
Fabio Coentrao's impressive performances with Benfica led his countryman Mourinho to sign the left-back for Real Madrid to provide cover and competition to Marcelo.
Fabio Coentrao did spend seven years at the club and often played important games but never burst into life despite winning a plethora of silverware with the club, as he struggled to get out of the Brazilian's shadow.
#7 Ricardo Quaresma
Ricardo Quaresma's talent has never been in doubt. The mercurial winger possesses a bag of delectable tricks and is capable of scoring worldies at will. What has always been his Achilles' heel, though, is his temperament, which has meant that he has not been consistent enough at the highest level.
At Inter Milan under Mourinho, Quaresma found the back of the net only once and was hardly part of the gaffer's plans as the Italian club went on to claim a historic continental treble.
#6 Juan Cuadrado
Juan Cuadrado had established his credentials as a top-quality winger at Fiorentina. That prompted Mourinho to bring the Colombian to Chelsea. However, the player struggled to adapt to the pace of the English Premier League even though he received the coach's backing during his early days.
Mourinho had said then:
"He needs time. I know Italy, and I know the difference between Italy and England. His formation, his development, his experience – everything was in Italy. Stability, time, integration – I think we will see the best Cuadrado next year."
However, Mourinho's words didn't turn out to be prophetic, as Juan Cuadrado never prospered at the Bridge before finally moving back to Italy, where he finally found his feet once again with Juventus.
#5 Romelu Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku has turned his career around at Inter Milan as a marksman after a disappointing spell at Manchester United, where he finally fell down the pecking order under new coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Despite his failure to win a trophy at United, his goalscoring record wasn't very poor at the club. However, he did fail to deliver what was expected of him before getting a new lease of life at Inter. However, it was his first spell under Jose Mourinho that specifically warrants his mention here.
To be honest, Romelu Lukaku, then an upcoming striker, never really clicked at Chelsea after joining the club. He only made ten league appearances for the club over three seasons before the Portuguese tactician loaned him out to Everton, where Lukaku finally made his mark in England.
#4 Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Shevchenko was one of the best strikers in the world when he joined Chelsea in 2005 from AC Milan. Having helped the club become champions of Europe and Italy, a lot was expected of the Ukrainian when he signed for Jose Mourinho's team.
However, Shevchenko spent three pretty frustrating seasons at the club, never hitting the heights of his Milan days before going back to San Siro and then all the way back to where it all started: Dynamo Kyiv.
Like some others in this list, he also got into a feud with Jose Mourinho, who left the club before the Ukrainian did.
#3 Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah is one big player that got away from Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese tactician was instrumental in bringing the Egyptian forward to Chelsea, but the Pharaoh never got many chances for the Blues in his two seasons at the club before he was loaned out to Roma.
Salah only played 19 times for the club, netted twice during this period, before rediscovering his mojo in Italy. It was at this time that Liverpool happened and there was no looking back for Salah.
Mourinho later reportedly said that he didn't have a hand in Salah moving out from his team, but history will remember this as a big Mourinho miss nevertheless.
#2 Alexis Sanchez
Not much needs to be said about the most publicised transfer flop in Manchester United history, but Alexis Sanchez deserves a mention high in this list simply because of the scale of his failure at the club.
Manchester United paid £59.3 million in wages to the Chilean. In return, they got three precious Premier League goals.
Sanchez has later said that he found the atmosphere at the training ground off on the very first day and wanted to move back to London then and there. Now at Inter, Sanchez never blossomed under the strictly-regimented style of Mourinho.
#1 Kevin De Bruyne
Now one of the best midfielders in the world, not getting the best out of Kevin De Bruyne at Chelsea will remain one of Jose Mourinho's greatest regrets.
Mourinho's second spell at Chelsea gave him the opportunity to mould the brilliant, young playmaker into the finished product that he is today. Howver, Mourinho rarely played him, despite De Bruyne showing glimpses of his class during the limited opportunities he received.
Clearly, Mourinho's pragmatic ideas could not accommodate a fledglnig but free-spirited talent like De Bruyne, and the Belgian soon moved on to Wolfsburg.
Currently at Manchester City, De Bruyne has clearly found more resonance with Pep Guardiola than he did with Mourinho and has blossomed into a complete playmaker with immaculate vision, passing and shooting abilities.
