When Mourinho is texting you every night to leave the club

Every now and again, Jose Mourinho is at the front of all sporting newspapers. First it was due to his sacking by Fenerbahce, then it was his appointment as Benfica boss, then he was moaning about the referee in Portugal, then he played against his former club Chelsea, then referee Anthony Taylor revealed how Mourinho’s abuses affected his personal life. And then Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s new autobiography came out and off course, the Portuguese coach has a special place in it. And if what the Armenian midfielder wrote is correct, he deserves a place in it, but not for good reasons.

Mr Special One can also be Mr Abusive One: Ref Taylor opens up on his trauma with Mou

Mourinho and Mkhitaryan were paired twice in their careers and the first time it was in Manchester United. It was the start of Mourinho’s downfall as he previously managed Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid and had success. Even with the Red Devils he finished second and won the Europa League, but got sacked. And Mkhitaryan reveals that Mourinho was texting him every day to leave the club after the pair had an argument at the training ground in 2016.

“I told him, you've been criticising me for a year-and-a-half now, ever since I arrived at Manchester United. Mourinho told me I was "s***" and I just lost my temper. "You are the s***. An enormous one." Mou replied: "Get out of here, I never want to see you again." During the training sessions, the coach said nothing to me, he remained at a religious level of silence, but every evening he’d send me a message via WhatsApp. "Miki, leave, please" reveals the Armenian.

'Fenerbahce wasn't my cultural level'

And Mourinho was persistent, especially when in January 2018 a possibility of signing Alexis Sanches suddenly came up.

“The situation had become grotesque. I’d reply every time with the same copy and paste response. I will leave if I find the right team, otherwise I’ll wait for the summer. Towards the middle of January, the text changed slightly. "Miki, please leave, that way I can get Alexis Sanchez." Mino Raiola was working on this exchange with Arsenal. So my response mutated too. "I am not leaving just to do you a favour, and please stop writing to me. If you want, talk to Mino" he wrote.

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In the end, the swap did happen but just like Mkhitaryan, Sanchez failed in Manchester. The Armenian international later signed for Roma only to see Mourinho moving in the same direction. But this time, the Portuguese, who was faced with constant criticism of clashing with players used Mkhitaryan to deny the critics. He patched things up with him and the Armenian ended playing 40 times under Mourinho in 2021-22, winning the Conference League trophy with Roma, before leaving for Inter Milan for free.