Jose Mourinho was tempted to come out to tell the world his pedigree when it comes to managing top strikers in the mode of Tottenham’s Harry Kane. He was pushed out through a comment made by a football analyst Paul Merson who claimed that Mourinho‘s style does not fit the England international and he might rethink his stay at the club when the season ends.
Mourinho in his natural element spent over 4 minutes to respond to the comment via a press conference. The 57-year-old Portuguese tactician read out statistics of some of the top strikers he has coached to prove that his style of play which is usually defensive-minded would not affect Harry Kane at Tottenham.
Mourinho is one of the most travelled managers in the world who have coached some of the biggest clubs and some of the biggest names in the world of football. Before he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, he has managed top European clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester United. In all those clubs, he has had the opportunity of winning at least a trophy and had strikers that score double digits seasons in and out.
Why Harry Kane is Safe with Mourinho
Hence, to defend his prestige, the manager reminded the world that he has managed a certain Didier Drogba at Chelsea who played under him for four seasons and scored 186 goals (73 goals) before he was asked to leave the club in 2007. Mourinho also reminded his critics that he has also managed a certain Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid who spent three seasons under him and scored 168 goals.
He didn’t stop there, he went further to remind Paul Merson that before he started managing Harry Kane, he has managed a certain Karim Benzema also at Real Madrid for three seasons and scored 78 goals under his watch. Mourinho also remembered his days at Inter Milan where he had a certain Diego Milito who played under him for a season and scored 30 goals.
He didn’t forget the 38-year-old goals machine who currently plays for AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic; he scored 58 goals for him in less than 2 seasons at Manchester United.
“So, dear Paul, I have lots of respect for you. [But] I think Harry Kane has no problems at all to score goals in my teams. Especially when he is fit, fresh when he has routines of playing. So, that is my message to somebody that I have lots of respect for”, Mourinho said.
Moving forward with Kane…
When the Portuguese tactician came to Tottenham last summer, Harry Kane only played for him in less than three months before he got injured on the 1st of January 2020. Before his injury, he has played only 10 times and had scored just 7 goals in the league.
Kane had the opportunity of playing for the first time in 6 months on Friday when Tottenham restarted their campaign against Manchester United in Tottenham Stadium. The match ended 1-1 without a goal from the England international.
He is expected to lead Mourinho’s attack today, June 23, when West Ham United visit Tottenham Stadium for the second leg of the encounter between the two London teams this season. The first leg ended 2-3 in favour of Tottenham.
