I wanted to play for Jose
CHELSEA fans are not my people. We’ve all worked that out over the years. I belong to Liverpool.
Jose Mourinho understood my reasons; but each time he came in for me he was very persuasive. I liked the way he spoke to me and I could see how most of his players were ready to die for him. I remembered him winning the Champions League with Inter Milan and the devastation of his players when he left. You could see it in their faces. I understood how they felt because they had shared such a big moment in their careers together.
I never had that with Rafa Benitez. I would have had it with Jose Mourinho.
It was clear that, tactically, he could set up his team to win any football match. He could spoil, he could fight, he could do whatever you needed because he was a pure winner. But, more than that, he created a special bond with each squad he managed.
You heard it in the way his players spoke about him and the way they played for him.
For me, the ideal situation would have been for Mourinho to have managed Liverpool.
He was linked with a move to Anfield a couple of times but it never materialised. I know I’m biased, but I think it would have been a perfect match. The Liverpool fans would have loved him and he would have known exactly how to turn that love into adoration. He always told me about his deep respect for our supporters. Jose would have had a fantastic time bringing huge success to Liverpool.
When I was playing my best football, probably in 2006 and even in 2009, there were some big chances to leave: Chelsea again; Real Madrid twice — and the second time was more tempting because, once more, Mourinho wanted me. Playing for Jose in the white shirt of Real Madrid, at the Bernabeu? Only Liverpool made me say ‘no’.
I had come so close to leaving for Chelsea in 2005. The reason I stayed was that Liverpool meant so much to me both as a club and as a city. Chelsea and London didn’t mean anything.
During those distressing days when I felt so torn about whether or not I should stay or go, I never once thought to myself, ‘I want to play for Chelsea instead of Liverpool’. My head was almost turned because I was thinking, ‘I’d love to play for Jose Mourinho’.