Ronaldo, Kane, McTominay: 13 players who thrived under Jose Mourinho

For a man that has ruined football for years with his negative, anti-football approach, Jose Mourinho sure has won a lot.

The greatest heel in the sport, if ever Mourinho was bored of the beautiful game, there would absolutely be a spot in professional wrestling for him, considering his charisma and ability with a microphone in front of his face.

He might not play the most conventionally beautiful football in the world, nor may he be the most likeable man, but he’s a serial winner. Just look at his CV. From destroying the Premier League with Chelsea and winning European silverware with Porto and Inter, to his stint at Real Madrid and winning silverware at a broken Manchester United.

If you’re fully aboard the Mourinho train as a player, you’ll reap the rewards. Plenty of players have earned the Mourinho seal of approval over the years, and have gone on to have top careers, often citing his help as a means of achieving certain levels.

In honour of the ever polarising, always entertaining pantomime villain that is Mourinho, GIVEMESPORT has compiled a list of 13 players who thrived under his tutelage.

On the surface, a clash of egos as gargantuan as this one should be shifting the Earth’s tectonic plates, not working together in harmony at a football club. But alas, Mourinho and Ronaldo hit it off during their time together at Real Madrid. Ronaldo won a European Golden Shoe while playing under Mourinho and would score 60 goals in all competitions in a season, before proving instrumental as Real wrapped up La Decima. Admittedly, though, Ronaldo is a freak and things wouldn’t have been much different, regardless of manager.

It’s strange to think that John Obi Mikel’s career at the top level could – and probably should – have