TFF has often considered Jose Mourinho to be one of the best managers in terms of finding and acquiring players.<\/p>\n
You only need to look at his signings since he came to Manchester United to realise that he has a great eye for a player. He obviously has an excellent team of scouts and coaches working with him to sign the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of world footballing talent.<\/p>\n
But the Manchester United manager is the man to give the final green light to transfers and he has done so brilliantly wherever he has worked.<\/p>\n
In his first year at Manchester United alone, Mourinho signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic who went on to score 28 goals for the club before his injury.<\/p>\n
Eric Bailly looks like one of the best young players in the world. Henrikh Mkhitaryan took time to settle in at Manchester United but he has quickly become integral to their attack. And Paul Pogba could well become United’s captain over the next few years.<\/p>\n
TFF found a list of all Jose Mourinho’s signings since 2004 and we have pulled out who we believe to be the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n
Michael Essien (Ghana and Chelsea)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Ghana international of some 58 caps and nice goals has to be regarded as one of the finest midfielders ever to play in the Premier League. He was relatively unknown when Jose Mourinho signed him for Chelsea from Lyon in 2005 for a princely sum of 24.4m GBP.<\/p>\n But Chelsea weren’t the only party interested in his signature – Manchester United would also have dearly loved to sign him – and the fee spoke of a player who was fully expected to become a superstar.<\/p>\n And he duly accepted the challenge to become the stalwart of Chelsea’s midfield for almost a decade. He was calm, imposing and physically sensational. Essien never seemed to break a sweat but at once bossed games and controlled midfields on an almost weekly basis.<\/p>\n He was comfortably one of Jose’s best signings.<\/p>\n Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)<\/strong><\/p>\n Another capture during Mourinho’s golden era at Chelsea. The Ivory Coast international, who finished his career with 104 caps and 65 goals, was an absolute sensation at Stamford Bridge in two spells at the club between 2004 and 2015.<\/p>\n Drogba terrorised defences and battered in goals from all angles – 164 of them in total over the span of 381 glorious games for the club.<\/p>\n Raphael Varane (France and Real Madrid) <\/strong><\/p>\n The 24-year-old still hasn’t reached his peak but he’s a Rolls-Royce of a player who would walk into pretty much any side in the world of football. The France international is pure class.<\/p>\n Diego Costa (Spain and Chelsea)<\/strong><\/p>\n He may not have had the smoothest ride at Stamford Bridge but there is no doubting the quality or efficacy of the Spanish international. In three seasons at Stamford bridge he has scored 57 goals in 115 games and was key to Chelsea’s title charges in 2015 and 2017.<\/p>\n Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast and Manchester United) <\/strong><\/p>\n Jose Mourinho’s latest club, Manchester United, could prove to be his biggest challenge yet as he looks to reignite the Red Devils post Sir Alex Ferguson.<\/p>\n And the capture of Eric Bailly could yet prove to be one of his best ever. The 23-year-old Ivory Coast man is built like a rock and seems to be tailor made for Premier League defending.<\/p>\n Chelsea \u2013 2004-05 Chelsea \u2013 2005-06 Chelsea \u2013 2006-07 Chelsea \u2013 2007-08 Inter Milan \u2013 2008-09 Inter Milan \u2013 2009-10 Real Madrid \u2013 2010-11 Real Madrid \u2013 2011-12 Real Madrid \u2013 2012-13 Chelsea \u2013 2013-14 Chelsea \u2013 2014-15 Chelsea \u2013 2015-16 Manchester United 2016-17 Overall total: \u00a3883.8m<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You only need to look at his signings since he came to Manchester United to realise that he has a great eye for a player. He obviously has an excellent team of scouts and coaches working with him to sign the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of world footballing talent.
\nPaulo Ferreira (Porto) \u2013 \u00a313.2m
\nMateja Kezman (PSV Eindhoven) \u2013 \u00a35.5m
\nDidier Drogba (Marseille) – \u00a324m
\nTiago (Benfica) \u2013 \u00a310m
\nRicardo Carvalho (Porto) \u2013 \u00a319.8m
\nAlex (PSV Eindhoven) \u2013 \u00a35.7m
\nNuno Morais (Penafiel) \u2013 free
\nJiri Jarosik (CSKA Moscow) \u2013 \u00a33m
\nTotal: \u00a381.2m<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAsier del Horno (Athletic Bilbao) \u2013 \u00a38m
\nLassana Diarra (Le Havre) \u2013 \u00a32m
\nShaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) \u2013 \u00a324m
\nMichael Essien (Lyon) \u2013 \u00a324.4m
\nTotal: \u00a358.4m<\/p>\n
\nMichael Ballack (Bayern Munich) \u2013 free
\nSalomon Kalou (Feyenoord) \u2013 \u00a33m
\nAndriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) \u2013 \u00a330m
\nJohn Obi Mikel (Lyn Oslo) \u2013 \u00a316m
\nKhalid Boulahrouz (Hamburg) \u2013 \u00a39m
\nAshley Cole (Arsenal) – \u00a35m + William Gallas
\nTotal: \u00a363m<\/p>\n
\nClaudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich) \u2013 free
\nTal Ben Haim (Bolton Wanderers) \u2013 free
\nSteve Sidwell (Reading) \u2013 free
\nFlorent Malouda (Lyon) \u2013 \u00a313.5m
\nJuliano Belletti (Barcelona) \u2013 \u00a33.7m
\nTotal: \u00a317.2m<\/p>\n
\nHernan Crespo (Chelsea) \u2013 free
\nMancini (Roma) \u2013 \u00a310.3m
\nLuis Jimenez (Ternana) \u2013 \u00a34.7m
\nSulley Muntari (Portsmouth) \u2013 \u00a312.7m
\nRicardo Quaresma (Porto) \u2013 \u00a314.7m + Pele
\nVictor Obinna (Chievo) \u2013 free
\nTotal: \u00a342.4m<\/p>\n
\nDiego Milito (Genoa) \u2013 \u00a311.6m + Robert Acquafresca + Riccardo Meggiorini
\nThiago Motta (Genoa) \u2013 \u00a33.6m + Francesco Bozoni + Leonardo Bonucci
\nKerlon (Chievo) \u2013 free
\nLucio (Bayern Munich) \u2013 \u00a36.8m
\nSamuel Eto\u2019o (Barcelona) \u2013 \u00a317.2m (transfer included Zlatan Ibrahimovic moving to Barcelona)
\nWesley Sneijder (Real Madrid) \u2013 \u00a315.5m
\nGoran Pandev (Lazio) \u2013 free
\nMcDonald Mariga (Parma) \u2013 \u00a34.3m
\nTotal: \u00a359m<\/p>\n
\nSergio Canales (Racing Santander) \u2013 \u00a33.8m
\nAngel Di Maria (Benfica) \u2013 \u00a320.9m
\nPedro Leon (Getafe) \u2013 \u00a38.4m
\nSami Khedira (Stuttgart) \u2013 \u00a310m
\nRicardo Carvalho (Chelsea) \u2013 \u00a36.7m
\nMesut Ozil (Werder Bremen) \u2013 \u00a312.5m
\nTotal: \u00a362.3m<\/p>\n
\nNuri Sahin (Borussia Dortmund) \u2013 \u00a38.8m
\nHamit Altintop (Bayern Munich) \u2013 free
\nJose Callejon (Espanyol) \u2013 \u00a34.4m
\nRaphael Varane (Lens) \u2013 \u00a38.8m
\nFabio Coentrao (Benfica) \u2013 \u00a326.5m
\nTotal: \u00a348.5m<\/p>\n
\nLuka Modric (Tottenham) \u2013 \u00a333m
\nDiego Lopez (Sevilla) \u2013 \u00a33.2m
\nTotal: \u00a336.2m<\/p>\n
\nAndre Schurrle (Bayern Leverkusen) \u2013 \u00a318m
\nMarco van Ginkel (Vitesse) \u2013 \u00a39m
\nMark Schwarzer (Fulham) \u2013 free
\nWillian (Anzhi Makhachkala) \u2013 \u00a330m
\nSamuel Eto\u2019o (Anzhi Makhachkala) \u2013 free
\nKurt Zouma (St Etienne) \u2013 \u00a312m
\nMo Salah (Basle) \u2013 \u00a311m
\nTotal: \u00a380m<\/p>\n
\nCesc Fabregas (Barcelona) \u2013 \u00a330m
\nDiego Costa (Atletico Madrid) \u2013 \u00a335m
\nFilipe Luis (Atletico Madrid) \u2013 \u00a316m
\nDidier Drogba (Galatasaray) \u2013 free
\nLoic Remy (Queens Park Rangers) \u2013 \u00a38m
\nJuan Cuadrado (Fiorentina) \u2013 \u00a327m
\nTotal: \u00a3116m<\/p>\n
\nAsmir Begovic (Stoke City) \u2013 \u00a38m
\nBaba Rahman (Augsburg) \u2013 \u00a321.7m
\nPedro (Barcelona) \u2013 \u00a321m
\nKenedy (Fluminense) \u2013 \u00a36.7m
\nPapy Djilobodji (Nantes) \u2013 \u00a32.2m
\nMichael Hector (Reading) \u2013 \u00a34m
\nMarco Amelia (free agent) \u2013 free
\nTotal: \u00a363.6m<\/p>\n
\nEric Bailly (Villarreal) \u2013 \u00a330m
\nZlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) \u2013 free
\nHenrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund) \u2013 \u00a326m
\nPaul Pogba (Juventus) \u2013 \u00a3100m
\nTotal: \u00a3156m<\/p>\n
\n […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[585,7,576,586,4,68],"tags":[157,606,605,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8597"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11495,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8597\/revisions\/11495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefootballfreak.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}