Former Chelsea star reveals why he couldn’t cope with ‘brutal’ Mourinho

Andre Schurrle; Jose Mourinho TEAMtalk

Former Chelsea forward Andre Schurrle has revealed the extent of Jose Mourinho’s man-management style during his spell at Stamford Bridge.

The former Germany forward spent two years in west London following a £19.8m move from Bayer Leverkusen in 2013. He made 65 appearances for the club before returning to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg in 2015.

His time with the Blues coincided with Mourinho’s second spell in charge of the club. The ‘Special One’ returned for a two-year stint after spending the previous three seasons at Real Madrid.

And Schurrle has revealed how he was treated and why he did’t realise what Mourinho was trying to achieve with him.

“He’s a brutal guy,” he told SPOX (via Sport Witness) in an interview with Joko Winterscheidt.

“I always thought: What does he do? How does he treat me? What does he do with people?

“In retrospect, I notice what he wanted and with what means he worked. And at the time I couldn’t really cope with the things he wanted from me, with this harshness and this psychological pressure.

 


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“Back then, it was sometimes extremely difficult. I often drove home when I had a conversation with him and just thought I can’t anymore.

“What should I do? Because he was building up such extreme pressure.”

Hardline Mourinho tough to please

Mourinho is well known for being hardline to get the best out of his players, although he has mellowed in recent times.

That previous style worked in his first stint at Chelsea and at Inter Milan.

 

 

But spells at Real Madrid and Mancheetr United both ended badly, while his stint at Tottenham has so far been up and down.

Schurrle is one of many players who have struggled to cope with Mourinho’s style. Indeed, he believes his ego took a battering as a result.

“It was often the case that I played from the start, and he replaced me at halftime,” he added.

“And in the next game, I wasn’t in the squad and was in the stands. I couldn’t understand that at the time, and I also lost self-esteem. because the ego is hurt.

“Then you worry about what he might think. I sometimes had the feeling during training that he was only looking at me. But it probably wasn’t even the case.”

 

READ MORE: Jorginho has confirmed that his representatives discussed the idea of the Chelsea midfielder moving to Arsenal in the recent transfer window.