Jose Mourinho has enjoyed two successful spells at Stamford Bridge, the first of which saw Chelsea secure their first Premier League title.
The self-proclaimed Special One delivered three Premier League titles in total during his two stints in west London, with two in his first spell and one after returning to the Blues in 2013.
Mourinho also won the FA Cup once and the League Cup on three separate occasions as Chelsea boss.
Despite that, the Portuguese didn’t get everything his own way, and there are stories of players he missed out on while in charge at the club.
Here are five players Chelsea didn’t manage to sign while Mourinho was at Stamford Bridge.
Dani Alves
The talented defender reinvented the way we look at full-backs in the modern age, and he almost brought those skills to west London.
Alves had chosen a move to Chelsea over Real Madrid, and it was believed to be all but a done deal. In fact, you can still find reports claiming so. Instead, Barcelona swooped in at the last minute and nabbed Alves to staff their right-hand side.
As if rubbing salt into the wound, Mourinho then opted to sign Barcelona’s Juliano Belletti, the man Alves was about to replace. The Portuguese left Chelsea in September, while Alves won a lot of trophies at the Nou Camp.
Roberto Carlos
That wasn’t the only Brazilian full-back that Mourinho desperately wanted, in fact, he tried to sign two in the same summer.
Resembling something from a FIFA career mode, Mourinho made a play for Roberto Carlos. Quite what the plan was is unclear, whether it would be two left-backs playing together, or a rotation policy to keep both Carlos and Ashley Cole fresh.
“I spoke to Roman Abramovich about it,” Carlos said. “We had a meeting in Paris, but it didn’t happen due to a few small factors.”
Carlos opted to join Turkish giants Fenerbahçe instead, and after spells with Corinthians, Anzhi Makhachkala and Delhi Dynamos he retired in 2015.
Steven Gerrard
The mere talk of this deal had Liverpool fans fuming. Chelsea were keen to secure Gerrard in 2004/2005, and in a bid to force things through the midfielder even reportedly handed in a transfer request in the wake of the club’s Champions League win.
While it appeared that summer would see Gerrard swap red for blue, he had a last-minute change of heart and signed a new deal.
As for Mourinho, that summer saw him sign a little-known Lyon midfielder called Michael Essien. I wonder what happened to him...
Sergio Ramos
It’s never hard to find a Real Madrid player unhappy with their contract. In this instance, it was Sergio Ramos in 2015.
The Spain international was said to be disappointed with the contract extension he was offered, and so Mourinho made an ambitious attempt to bring him to Stamford Bridge. Ramos instead opted to sign a new deal at the Bernabeu, and it proved a smart decision as he won several Champions League titles.
As for Mourinho, the much-needed central defensive quality he got arrived in the form of Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector. Not quite the same.
Ronaldinho
The Brazilian playmaker scored one of the finest goals ever seen at Stamford Bridge, and he almost became a Chelsea player not long after.
It was 2007, and Chelsea had just lost the league to Manchester United. Roman Abramovich was eager to make a bold statement in response, and he saw the signing of Ronaldinho as the way to do that.
Unfortunately, Barcelona weren’t interested. The Brazilian remained at the Nou Camp, and Chelsea opted to sign Florent Malouda instead.
