Where are they now? The 10 most expensive players sold by Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho’s taste in player has never been the most popular, but if you backed him in the market, it used to guarantee success at the highest level.
The mask has slipped somewhat in recent years with the Portuguese boss now in Turkey with Fenerbahce after polarising spells with Tottenham and Roma. At his peak, however, the Special One would deliver league titles and European honours without question as long as he got who he wanted.
That comes at a cost, though. A man with expensive needs, we’ve taken a look at the 10 biggest sales Mourinho has made in his career so far and where those players are now.
10. Memphis Depay
Eighteen months in Manchester was all it took for Memphis to go from one of the game’s most promising young players to a talent in limbo and looking bereft of both ability and confidence.
Having bought him for £25million in the summer of 2015, the Dutch winger was already out of the first-team a year later when Mourinho replaced Louis van Gaal at Manchester United.
After just four appearances in 2016-17, he joined Lyon in January 2017 for an initial £16million, rising to £21.7million.
He enjoyed a career revival in France to earn a move to Barcelona, but again failed to find his feet at the top level. After 18 months with Atletico Madrid, the 30-year-old now finds himself unattached.
9. Filipe Luis
Mourinho signed Luis for Chelsea in the summer of 2014, paying Atletico Madrid £15.8million for the left-back. He lasted just one season at Stamford Bridge before being sold back to Atleti, however, returning in 2015 for £16million, according to the Guardian.
The Brazilian spent a further four years with Los Rojiblancos, reaching a Champions League final and winning the Europa League before signing for Flamengo in 2019.
He retired at the end of 2023 as a two-time Copa Libertadores winner and now works as the manager for the club’s under-20 side.
8. Kevin De Bruyne
Perhaps the biggest gaffe of Mourinho’s career – even though he’ll never admit it – he gave up on a young De Bruyne in 2014, sanctioning a sale to Wolfsburg for just £18million.
After just one season in Germany, the playmaker was back in England with Manchester City, signing in a £54million deal which was infamously labelled an ‘absolute joke’ for a player who was ‘out of his depth at Chelsea’.
Nine years, six Premier League titles, a Champions League and two Premier League Player of the Season awards later (we could’ve gone on) Merson has proudly eaten humble pie and accepted he was wrong.
Interestingly, Mourinho has since claimed on Jon Obi Mikel’s Obi One podcast that he didn’t want to sell De Bruyne, claiming that he wanted him around the squad, but the Belgian himself was the one pushing for an exit.
7. Morgan Schneiderlin
Another Van Gaal signing at United, Schneiderlin formed one half of the ill-fated ‘Schmidfield’ alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The £25million deal was seen as a shrewd one at the time, but the Frenchman struggled with the step-up and became surplus to requirements under Mourinho, being sold to Everton for £20million in January 2017 – a tidy £5million profit.
Schneiderlin spent three years with the Toffees before returning to France with Nice, but has just announced his retirement aged 34 following spells in Australia, Turkey and Greece.
6. Andre Schurrle
Schurrle joined Chelsea for around £18million in the same summer that Mourinho returned to the club, enjoying a strong first season before going off to win the World Cup with Germany in 2014.
He made 14 appearances in his second season, but left halfway through after just 18 months at Chelsea to return to Germany with Wolfsburg.
The £22million fee saw the Blues make a slight profit on a player who wanted more game time.
After stints at Borussia Dortmund, Fulham and in Russia, the winger surprisingly announced his retirement from football in 2020 at the age of just 29, having become disillusioned with the game.
These days he climbs mountains and tackles extreme sports and documents it on YouTube and Instagram – seriously cool stuff.
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5. Arjen Robben
Manchester United’s £7million offer was laughed off by PSV in 2004 as Chelsea swooped in to sign Robben for £12million ahead of the 2004-05 campaign.
Injury in pre-season meant Robben didn’t make his competitive debut until October 2004, but he quickly got up to speed and was pipped to the Premier League Player of the Year award by Wayne Rooney.
Three years later, the pull of Real Madrid proved too strong and he moved in a £24million deal.
It was at Bayern Munich, however, where Robben really found his stride, joining in 2009 and spending a decade with the club, winning eight Bundesliga titles, a continental treble and becoming one of the world’s best wingers alongside Franck Ribery.
He retired in 2019, but came out of retirement to play a season with Groeningen before retiring again in 2021.
4. Romelu Lukaku
A man who has accumulated insane money in transfer fees, Lukaku signed for Chelsea for £10million as a teenager in 2010 and always looked capable of blossoming into a top level scorer, eventually doing so with Everton who purchased him from Chelsea for £28million in 2014.
After a brilliant loan season, the Belgian spent three seasons on their books as a permanent transfer before being signed by Mourinho at Manchester United in 2017 for £75million.
He was sold to Inter for around £73million two years later and has since returned to Chelsea, flopped, returned to Inter and turned out for Roma – again under Mourinho.
The 31-year-old is still contracted to Chelsea but surplus to requirements and the Blues are desperately hoping Antonio Conte’s Napoli will take him off their hands. A bizarre career.
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3. Juan Mata
Despite being named Chelsea’s Player of the Year in each of his first two seasons with the club following a £23.5milion move, Mourinho sold the Spanish playmaker to United in January 2014 for a tidy £37.5million, only to be reunited with him a few years later when he ended up at Old Trafford himself.
Their relationship in Manchester was more positive, even if Mata spent his best years plugging a hole on United’s right flank instead of being deployed as a number 10.
He eventually left at the end of his contract in 2022 to sign for Galatasaray and is currently a free agent after a spell in Japan with Vissel Kobe.
2. David Luiz
A brilliant bit of business from Chelsea, after signing Luiz for £21.5million in 2011, Mourinho sold him to Paris Saint-Germain for £50million in 2014, only for him to re-join the Blues two years later for a cut-price £34million and prove his worth again under Antonio Conte.
He eventually left the club again in 2019, moving across London to join Arsenal for £8million. However, his time at the Emirates was short-lived and forgettable, leaving at the end of his contract in 2021 to return to Brazil with Flamengo.
Now 37, he lifted the Copa Libertadores with the club in 2022.
1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Mourinho and Ibrahimovic spent just one season together at Inter in 2008-09 before the Swede made a high-profile move to Barcelona for £40million, with Samuel Eto’o also joining Inter in the same deal.
Inter actually got the better end of the deal as the Barcelona-Zlatan deal blew up after one year, resulting in him moving back to Italy with Milan.
Mourinho was reunited with the striker in 2016 when he signed him for United on a free transfer from PSG, bagging 28 goals in all competitions that season.
After a spell in Los Angeles and a return to Milan, Ibrahimovic retired aged 41 in 2023 and now works with the Rossoneri as an advisor to the board.