Mourinho complains about the lack of contact from Del Bosque, national team managers

Jose Mourinho isn't happy that Diego Costa has returned from international duty unable to play for Chelsea. While the striker has been dealing with hamstring issues all season, the club have managed them well enough that he's been able to play the majority of their matches, and play very well while out on the pitch.

Mourinho talked about the lack of communication from the various national teams, mentioning that only a single manager has been in contact with him this season:

"In this moment, since the beginning of the season, I think from all national teams, one phone call from Roy. That's the only one. This is the situation. He was the only one from all national teams that had personal direct contact with me. When I was in Real Madrid, with Luka Modric, Igor Stimac made three calls a week, three a week."

"Myself and Roy have a correct relationship. He called me once. The team was completely open. Last week Gary Neville was here as a journalist and if he wants to come as national coach assistant, the door is also open for him. Even more open than as a journalist!"

I have a hard time not being very irritated on hearing this, as national teams have such little access to the players during the course of the club season that they should be looking for as much information as humanly possible. It's even more important to monitor the players' fitness and training methods when we're talking about pointless two-week international breaks where the national team coaching staff has basically no time to work with the players, so the lack of any sort of communication is more than a little disturbing.

Hopefully this complaint prompts more national team managers to speak directly with the various club managers in charge of the national team's personnel. I doubt anything will change with Del Bosque, but one can hope some of the less stubborn managers out there will take the hint.