During his two spells at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho managed some of the best players to ever play in England.
John Terry, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole are just three names who will go down in Premier League history as some of the most reliable players to ever lace their boots.
But it’s another legend, Frank Lampard, who Mourinho has singled out for particular praise claiming that, for a grand total of ten years, the midfielder was the best player in the league.
“At Chelsea, in my first period, I had Frank Lampard, probably the best player in the Premier League for one decade,” Mourinho told the Straits Times, as quoted by The Sun.
It’s not difficult to see why Mourinho rates him so highly as Lampard scored 13 goals from midfield in the year that Mourinho delivered the Blues their first Premier League title. He scored 16 the next season when Chelsea finished eight points clear of Manchester United.
Lampard is currently fourth in the list of all time Premier League goalscorers with 177 and is the only midfielder in the top fifteen.
Mourinho, who many expect to take over at Manchester United next season, was in complimentary form as he rattled off some other high-profile names he’s worked with.
“I went to Inter [Milan], I had [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, I got [Javier] Zanetti. I got to [Real] Madrid, I had [Cristiano] Ronaldo. I come back to Chelsea and I find other top players.
“I have so many, they gave me so much, it’s not fair to say this is the one. It’s impossible to win so many things without the players so I respect all of them.”
