Former Chelsea FC and Real Madrid midfielder Michael Essien has spoken about his two time boss Jose Mourinho, and also gave his unique insight as to why the Portuguese is as successful as he is.
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The 32-year-old played under Mourinho during his first spell at the club, and then when he was the Real Madrid manager, and the Ghanaian footballer feels that Jose can get the best out of last season’s Manchester United flop Radamel Falcao, where his mentor Louis Van Gaal failed. According to Essien it is Mourinho’s ‘big ego’ that helps him manage all sorts of footballers, and get the best out of them.
Mourinho has a big ego as well but in a good way – Michael Essien
The box-to-box midfielder who spent eight years with the London club, speaking to The Guardian said:
a We had a great group of players with a manager who was always behind us and kept pushing us.
a We had players with big egos and big characters but at the same time they were good men as well. Mourinho has a big ego as well but in a good way. It was easy for him to manage those kind of players. He is still the same man. Hea s still tough.a
The 32-year-old further add’s that Mourinho has the knack of reading players excellently and understanding the right way to motivate them.
a He knows how to get the best out of his players, how to say the right thing, how to motivate them. He will get him back to the Falcao everybody knows.a
Essien didn’t shy away from calling Real Madrid the greatest club in the world, adding:
a If you have a manager who knows you and he is at one of the greatest clubs in the world, of course you say yes. I went on loan to the biggest club in the world.a
The midfielder has been plagued with injuries in the recent past, limiting his game time, and is currently with Greece side Panathinaikos, after a year-long loan spell with AC Milan.
Will we see Falcao of Atletico Madrid or Manchester United at Chelsea FC?
The 29-year-old striker had a disastrous loan spell at Manchester United last season, scoring only four goals in 29 appearances for the Old Trafford club, in what was one of the most telling fall from grace last season. Falcao was till recently, i.e. prior to his Manchester United days, considered one of the best strikers in World football, and his insane goals to game ratio’s in his spells with FC Porto and Atletico Madrid are proof of it.
However, a knee injury that ruled him out of last year’s World Cup took it’s tool on the Colombian hit-man, with him losing some of his acceleration, which he used to great effect to get in behind defenders. However, last season the Falcao of Manchester United was a shadow of the lethal striker that he was so feared for, bereft of confidence, and Louis Van Gaal didn’t manage to get the best out of the no. 9.
While, Mourinho cannot help the Colombian to re-gain some of his lost acceleration, he might help the striker’s confidence by showing some faith in him, and who knows, maybe the Falcao that terrorized Chelsea FC‘s defense in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup final with his scintillating hat-trick, might just be back terrorizing Premier League defenses.