Controversial Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has addressed Nigeria midfielder Mikel Obi chances of wearing the club’s captain armband in the upcoming season.
According to Mourinho, Mikel has what it takes to become captain of the club someday.
He said: “Mikel is, after John (Terry), the guy with most years of Chelsea. I think (Cesc) Fabregas has personality for a captain too. Eden is coming with big status now and was voted one of the top ten players in Europe last year. In my opinion he should be in the top three not in the top ten.
“Let’s see what is going to happen but we have these people. But let’s say John and Branislav are our captains and the others are ready to come.”
Speaking further at the press briefing, Mourinho said that Eden Hazard had a better season last year than Cristiano Ronaldo.
According to Mourinhio, Real Madrid’s failure to win any major trophies despite Ronaldo’s 61 goals in all competitions last season makes the Portuguese world’s No. 3 behind Messi and Hazard.
Mourinho said: “Ronaldo scored an incredible number of goals. I am not saying he is not fantastic. I am just saying that, in my personal view, every football player in the world should understand that a team has to be in front and no titles [are important].”
Hazard or Ronaldo may be debatable, but to Mourinho there’s no doubt that Messi remains No. 1.
He added: “Football without titles is nothing. Messi won the treble. He won three competitions last year, he reached the Copa America final. He had a fantastic season for him and for his team.”
Mourinho heaping praise on Hazard said: “He is not afraid to take responsibility.
“He is not afraid to get the team from a dark situation and bring blue sky again for the team. He is not afraid of this. He is a guy with great discipline. He is not the kind of guy you see setting bad examples and so on. So I think he can [lead].
“His ambition is coming, he is also the vice-captain of the Belgian national team. He has four seasons at Chelsea, so he didn’t arrive yesterday.
“I think he is in this group. Eden, [Cesc] Fabregas, [Gary] Cahill are in this group behind the captains.”
And Mourinho said Hazard will only get better as he gets older — as long as Chelsea keep winning trophies.
He said: “To repeat these trophies, I believe he has go to better, because the normal tendency is for people to find another star; to find somebody new to get these individual trophies.
“But he has all the conditions to improve. With his age he can improve.”
Jose Mourinho also accused Arsenal rival Arsene Wenger of buying his way into contention for the Premier League title. According to him, Wenger will have no excuse if the Gunners fail to land a first title in 11 years, given the amount of money he has been spending on new players.
He said: “If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise.
“If you put Ozil plus Alexis Sanchez, plus Chambers, plus Debuchy, you will find a surprise.
“It’s a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be title contenders.
“Get a calculator. That is the easiest thing, it leaves no space for speculation. If you want to be honest, objective and pragmatic it is the easiest job for a manager to do.”
Mourinho also had time for little games as he ensured his players trained with smiles on their faces in Montreal on Monday, July 27.
He arranged a prank to catch out members of club staff.
Mourinho asked those taking part, including Chelsea TV presenter Lee Parker, to pretend they were on an aeroplane after making them sit in formation and put their hands on imaginary controls and after conducting the direction of the invisible aeroplane and making the staff – and Terry – lean from side to side, Mourinho then gave the signal for buckets of icy water to be thrown all over his unsuspecting victims.
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