Jose Mourinho has been speaking about his Real Madrid exit and return to Chelsea in 2013.
After three years at Real Madrid where Jose Mourinho was able to win one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey trophy, the 61-year-old decided to rejoin Chelsea for a second spell in charge of the club.
His first two seasons there were very good on paper. The Blues came third in the 2013/14 Premier League campaign and managed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, which Real Madrid went on to win.
A year later, Chelsea managed to win their fourth Premier League title, Mourinho’s third over his two spells at Stamford Bridge. However, the following season was a disaster and the Portuguese was sacked in December with the Blues 16th in the table.
Jose Mourinho regrets leaving Real Madrid for Chelsea
For as much as Mourinho loves Chelsea, or at least claims to, the Fenerbahce manager has admitted that he regrets his decision to leave Real Madrid for the Blues back in 2013, which is likely to disappoint Blues supporters.
Speaking in an interview with Corriere dello Sport about the biggest regret in his career, Mourinho said: “If you’re referring to professional choices, the no to Florentino [Perez]. He told me, ‘Mou, don’t leave now, you’ve done the hard part and the good part is yet to come’.
“I knew it would be like this, but I wanted to return to Chelsea after three years in Spain of great struggles.”
Mourinho’s next two jobs after Chelsea were at Manchester United and then Tottenham Hotspur.
After being sacked by the latter, he returned to Italy to manage AS Roma. Tammy Abraham recently shared how Mourinho convinced him to join Roma in 2021.
Jose Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea was a disaster
Yes, Mourinho was able to guide Chelsea to Premier League and League Cup success during his second stint in charge of the club.
However, with a little more patience, he would have had the tools to achieve so much more.
Instead of developing the likes of Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, they were all sold under the Special One’s watch.
Looking back, it kind of feels like Mourinho sold Chelsea’s future for one Premier League title.
The Blues’ performance in the Champions League under him was not good enough either. While they did make the semi-finals in 2014, a very defensive approach to the second leg of their semi-final tie saw them get knocked out by Atletico Madrid.
The following year, Chelsea failed to beat a 10-man Paris Saint-Germain side in the last 16. If Enzo Maresca can get the Blues back into the Champions League, hopefully they take a more brave approach in the competition.
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