Mourinho made Mohamed Salah CRY before Chelsea exit

Cameron Smith

31 Oct 2023 15:17 CDT
3 min read

Jose Mourinho, Roma, 2021/22 — © ProShots

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has revealed that Jose Mourinho made Mohamed Salah cry before the Egyptian left Chelsea.

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Salah, now 31, endured a tricky time at Chelsea and was never given too many opportunities by Mourinho.

As a result, he left the club in 2015 before returning to the Premier League with Liverpool. Salah has become a legend at Anfield since his move to Jurgen Klopp’s side, with Chelsea’s decision to sell him looking worse and worse with each passing year.

However, Mikel has revealed that Salah was reduced to tears during his time at Stamford Bridge, with his exit therefore not a great surprise.

What did Mikel say?

Speaking on his podcast - the Obi One Podcast - Mikel said: “They [Salah and Kevin de Bruyne] were so unlucky that the boss, Mourinho, then didn't take any prisoners.

“If you weren't doing your job, it didn't matter who you were, he would have a go at you,” Mikel revealed.

“He [Mourinho] had a go at Mohamed Salah at half-time once and he was in tears crying. We thought ‘OK, he's going to let him back on the pitch’ but then he destroyed the kid and then pulled him off. But that was just his mentality back then but would Mourinho do that now? I think no.

“He's become older and more mature and knows how to deal with younger players, and players in general, a lot more now.

“I think that's just how he got the best out of us then and that's how we were when we were successful because of how he wanted us to play, train and behave as players."

Mikel also admitted that he perhaps didn’t make Salah or De Bruyne feel as welcome on the pitch as he could’ve done.

“When all foreign players arrived and didn't speak much English, I always did a 20-word document that would translate the football terms for them,” he revealed.

“Simple ones like ‘man on’, ‘let it go’ and ‘one-two’ etc so that when they were on the training pitch they understood the football terminology.

“From that side of it I think I did all that I could for when boys arrived to help them settle. Once we crossed the white line I was probably a little bit too hard on them as well.”