Thibaut Courtois confirms Real Madrid got the exact Jose Mourinho they needed
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois talked about how different Jose Mourinho is now from his Chelsea days, when he first played under the manager all the way back in 2014 - making it more than a decade since the last time Mourinho managed Chelsea, as the manager ended up leaving in 2016.
As with any person, when they grow older, they change their ways in some aspects. Even though some of these things will remain the same forever, something or the other gets affected, either positively or negatively, and any player who has seen both sides of that from a manager will notice this.
Courtois definitely has noticed it about Mourinho, and he made sure to say that in an interview recently. He said, "I think he himself would say he is a bit more mature now. At Chelsea, I remember he was a bit stronger in the dressing room, a bit heavier. He still is now, but I feel it a tiny bit less. It is still the same personality, the same presence. It fills the room. You come in, and he is there, and you feel it."
Real Madrid needed this exact version of Jose Mourinho
Courtois knows what he's talking about. Mourinho has changed some of his ways in these last couple of years, but he is still the stern manager who used to get to the bottom of things very effectively. He is still the manager whose personality knows no bounds, and he is still the manager who can lead the locker room in desperate times.
Right now, or at least when he joined Real Madrid for his second stint, was a desperate time for the club. Mourinho came in, and just a matter of a few months, he has changed some of the bad habits at Real Madrid. He may not be as stern and as heavy as he used to be, but if he's getting the job done regardless, it doesn't really matter.
Even if he has changed a few things about him over the years, the personality has remained the same, and that is what Real Madrid needed. They needed a personality who can be as stern or as polite depending on the situation, and that is exactly what Mourinho is doing.
Real Madrid have not achieved anything yet this season, but they are slowly improving and turning into more of a team than they have been in the last few years. A lot of that is down to Mourinho and the way he has worked around the squad.
It does not take a genius to figure it out, and Courtois understands that, despite the differences, Mourinho is still Mourinho, and that is what Real Madrid needed all this time.
