New Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hasn't been talking to the players on international duty at the Confederations Cup just yet, but that leaves plenty of Blues left to speak to. One of those is Ramires, dropped from the Brazil team under slightly controversial circumstances -- and Mourinho, apparently, had nothing but praise for the midfielder:
I am eager to start working with Mourinho, my phone rang recently and it was Mourinho. It surprised me. We talked a lot and he said nice things.
He said that he requested Inter Milan and Real Madrid sign me when he was coaching those teams, he said that he is happy that I am in Chelsea's squad.
That made me very happy, and I told him that he can count on me, that I'll do what I can to help him be a winner at his new spell at the club. I was already eager to work with him and I am now even more motivated after finding out that he wants to work with me. I am feeling we will have a great season.
-Globo Esporte via Sky Sports.
I'm not at all surprised to find out that Ramires is Jose Mourinho's type of player. The main reason is that he offers up a fairly unique skillset which can be used to great effect in certain scenarios (see what he did for Roberto di Matteo at the end of the 2011/12 season). Although there's been some temptation to use him as sort of a midfield utility-knife thanks to his boundless energy, he's at his best only in very specific situations, and that means he can be very frustrating at times.
Happily for Ramires, Mourinho's an adept tactician, and should be able to put him in a position to flourish once more. Altohugh I didn't really have much doubt that the Brazilian had a long future at Stamford Bridge ahead of him, it's nice to see that everyone's aboard -- and that the Special One hasn't lost his touch as far as motivation is concerned.