When I was at Chelsea, there was so much in the press about my relationship with José Mourinho. But the truth is that I only ever spoke to him twice. The plan was always for me to go on loan for a bit. So I went to Werder Bremen in 2012, and that season went great. When I came back to Chelsea the next summer, a few German clubs wanted to sign me. Klopp wanted me to come to Borussia Dortmund, and they played the kind of football that I enjoy. So I thought maybe Chelsea would let me go.
But then Mourinho texted me, “You are staying. I want you to be part of this team.”
So I thought, O.K., great. I’m in his plans.
When I arrived for preseason, the vibe was good. I started two of the first four games of the season, and I thought I played O.K. Not brilliant, but pretty good. After the fourth game, that was it. I was on the bench, and I never really got a chance again. I didn’t get an explanation. I was just out of favor for some reason.
And, of course, I made some mistakes myself. I was a bit naive about the way that you have to handle yourself as a Premier League footballer. What I think most fans don’t realize is that when you’re out of favor at a club, you don’t get nearly the same attention during training. At some clubs, it’s like you don’t exist anymore.
If it happened to me now, it wouldn’t be a problem. I know enough to be able to train on my own and take care of myself. But when you’re 21, you don’t understand what it takes. When I got another chance to play, against Swindon Town in the Cup, I wasn’t in good shape. And then that was pretty much it for me.
José called me into his office in December, and it was probably the second big life-changing moment for me. He had some papers in front of him, and he said, “One assist. Zero goals. Ten recoveries.”
It took me a minute to understand what he was doing.
Then he started reading the stats of the other attacking forwards — Willian, Oscar, Mata, Schürrle.
And it’s like — five goals, 10 assists, whatever.
José was just kind of waiting for me to say something, and finally I said, “But … some of these guys have played 15, 20 games. I’ve only played three. So it’s going to be different, no?”
It was so strange. We had a bit of a conversation about me going back out on loan. And Mata was also out of favor at the time, so José said, “Well, you know, if Mata leaves, then you will be the fifth choice instead of sixth.”
I was completely honest. I said, “I feel like the club doesn’t really want me here. I want to play football. I’d rather you sell me.”
I think José was a bit disappointed, but to be fair to him, I think he also understood that I absolutely needed to play. So the club ended up selling me, and there was no big problem at all. Chelsea got more than double the price they paid for me, and I got into a much better situation at Wolfsburg.
Coupé It
, that reporting makes sense. If Joao Felix continues on his current trajectory, he's going to land Benfica a fee upwards of 100M euros before the lad even turns 21. I've said this before, see him more as baby Coutinho rather than the next CR7.
Armada said. I really need Wednesday to be here and Sterling to keep his form. Sane need to play too.
