Jose Mourinho should consider retirement after losing his magic touch, according to Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly.
It’s more than two decades since Mourinho swept into Stamford Bridge to begin an unforgettable era of success for the Blues. After winning successive league titles, he left in 2007, only to return in 2013 and win another Premier League crown in 2015.
However, it remains the last league title of his illustrious career after his Fenerbahce side finished a distant second to bitter rivals Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Lig. With the major trophies drying up in recent years - his last was the Europa Conference League with Roma in 2022 - there are question marks over whether his best days are behind him.
That view is held by Desailly, whose six-year spell at Stamford Bridge ended in 2004, the summer Mourinho arrived. While the French World Cup-winner has the utmost respect for the 62-year-old, he believes his approach has changed for the worse.
“We have loved him so much as a coach and he has nothing left to prove,” Desailly, who left Chelsea the summer Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge, told Oddspedia US.
Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly believes Mourinho has lost his magic (Image: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
“He is a top coach like Carlo Ancelotti, Luis Enrique and others, he will have to sit down and decide what he wants. He could set his ego down and restart the system that he wants to play.
“When he started coaching he had so much humility, players that played under him told me how fantastic a coach he was. Players wanted to fight and would die for him. He gave every single member of his team momentum and a chance to impress him.
“But he has changed. In the media, instead of protecting his players, he isn’t scared to call them out. His training sessions haven’t created motivation and competition among players.
“He has dropped the aspect of humility, he missed out on the title at Fenerbahce and he will need that to get back to the level he was at before.
Jose Mourinho during a Fenerbahce press conference
Mourinho hasn't won a league title since his second Chelsea spell (Image: undefined via Getty Images)
“If he has more humility then the good side of Mourinho will return. We all love him as a manager but he used to protect his players and he has lost a bit of that.”
While Desailly, then 35, left Chelsea as Mourinho arrived, the pair parted on good terms. He recalled to footballmadeinghana.com in 2020: “I could have stayed but was already 35. I spoke to Mourinho and he wanted me to stay. He told me I’m the leader and I will not be playing all the games because John Terry and William Gallas were better than me.
“I told him I wanted to go. That is why I ended up in Qatar [with Al-Gharafa] because I wanted to play football.”
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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