The greatest myth about Jose Mourinho is that he is incapable of appreciating flair players; that he jettisons creative midfielders entirely. Assess Mourinho’s career and an entirely different pattern emerges: this is a manager capable of guiding No 10s to the peak of their career.



Look at his experience with Deco, an unheralded, unremarkable Brazilian-turned-Portuguese midfielder at Porto, who was transformed under Mourinho. Usually playing as the number 10 in a 4-3-1-2, Deco starred en route to Porto’s unlikely Champions League success in 2004, and ranked second in the Ballon d’Or voting behind Andriy Shevchenko and in front of Ronaldinho.



Frank Lampard was a different type of player – a hard-running No 8 rather than a silky No 10 – but his form also dramatically improved upon Mourinho’s first appointment at Chelsea in 2004. He scored five and then six goals in his first two Chelsea campaigns before Mourinho, then hit 10, 13 and...