Despite all the upheaval at his previous club, Jose Mourinho would be overjoyed to return to Chelsea. A London property worth £25 million is still home to his family.
There appears to be a recency bias in the globe, as Jose Mourinho is supposedly being summoned to save Chelsea from their most recent predicament.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad has faltered all season, no question about it. Even though Chelsea aren’t a club that can be evaluated by conventional standards, it’s getting harder and harder to see the silver lining in their disappointing season.
By all accounts, Mourinho’s season has been less than brilliant; he is currently unemployed following his dismissal from Roma earlier this season, when the club was tenth in Serie A.
A return to “my Chelsea,” as Mourinho lovingly calls the club he lives 200 meters away from, has always been an option for the legendary Blues manager, who is unquestionably one of the best of the previous quarter of a century. Fans are beginning to remember this.
The catch is that this team is very different from the ones he played for in 2004 and 2013, thus the question becomes clear: why does he want to return to Chelsea, a club that has gotten itself into such much trouble with an overcrowded roster and financial fair play issues that they can’t even fire their current manager?
After smirking his way into the public eye in the early 2000s thanks to his remarkable feats with Porto, Mourinho is practically synonymous with Chelsea for the majority of us.
Some see him as a legendary figure, and younger followers may find it difficult to relate the stories of his charisma and exploits from his first stint in west London to this increasingly fragile, pоisоnоus, and spiky man.
While his current slump in form is certainly cause for concern, the fact remаins that he possesses the footballing genius to elevate any squad on the planet. His own lack of flexibility has been the one genuine hindrance.
But at Chelsea, he would discover a club that was willing to pamper him and spread out the red carpet. Pochettino is an excellent manager—ranking among the world’s best—but Mourinho is unrivaled at Chelsea.
That sounds like a fantastic opportunity for Mourinho, a manager who enjoys having his way. Everything starts to fall into place when you consider that Todd Boehly’s checkbook never seems to run out of pages.
Then there’s the fact that he’s practically worshipped by everyone in that tiny corner of the globe. Sure, we all have egos, but it’s safe to assume that someone who dubbed himself “The Special One” occasionally enjoys being pampered.
The prоspect of being the savior for his old club must be hard to ignore, and some sections of the Chelsea fanbase have already sent out bat signals for Mourinho to return, with Boy Wonder John Terry joining in some appeals for help.
Moving in with his wife of 35 years, Matilde Faria, into their £25 million mansion would also give him the opportunity to be closer to his daughter, Matilde, who runs an award-winning jewelry store in west London. He could also spend more time with his son, Jose Jnr., a promising young coach, and bring the family closer together than they have in a long time.
To a certain extent, it depends on whether Chelsea would desire him at all. Despite Pochettino’s lackluster performance, the Blues were always going to be an underdog; it would take them three seasons to regain their title-winning form.
The most obvious criticism leveled against Mourinho is that, in his nine years in charge, he has failed to secure a league title and has instead earned just three major awards. This does not bode well for a manager known for his success in bringing home trophies.
He is not hesitant to sаy what’s on his mind and will be unwavering on any issue that he believes requires his renowned tenacity; his recent appointments have ended in somewhat contentious fashion, and he can be a divisive character, to put it mildly.
Even though he does a good job of moving teams forward and winning trophies for them, he usually ends up getting fired after bringing them back down, which is extremely concerning in an ecologically sensitive area like Chelsea’s current state.
Of course, Jose’s previous Chelsea teammates from the Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, and Petr Cech period spoke highly of him, but some of Jose’s United teammates would likely tell a totally different story.
Now, his impeccable reputation is, well, cast in doubt. Much more often than for his trophy-winning exploits, he is remembered for his pоisоnоus departures, and his once-gilded reputation has faded.
And that doesn’t even take into consideration the huge red flag: Mourinho has consistently preferred his tried-and-true formula of proven winners and seasoned veterans over younger teams full of potential.
Only Thiago Silva and Raheem Sterling are now on that kind of Chelsea team. It was a brilliant move to hire Pochettino because of his track record of shaping young teams into contenders, and he is unrivaled in this regard. Not Mourinho, I assure you.
The fact that Pochettino is still in charge is an additional, and significant, roadblock. Even though the club is worried about paying his £10 million severance fee, he is still present and appears to be staying for the time being, so he is not exactly teetering on the edge.