“Some days, you want to hit his head against the wall” - Ex-Chelsea star on ‘crazy’ experience of working with Jose Mourinho
Demba Ba has admitted that he used to get frustrated with Jose Mourinho during their time together at Chelsea. He said that there were moments when he wanted to hit the manager's head against the wall.
Speaking to FourFourTwo, Ba said that Mourinho, widely regarded as one of the best managers in the sport, played with players' emotions, which got on Ba's nerves. He reckons the manager did it to get the best out of his players:
"Some days, you want to hit his head against the wall, but, then, you leave and think, 'That's probably one of the best managers ever'. It's crazy. He has the ability to play with people's emotions to get what he needs out of them."
Demba Ba played 29 games under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and scored eight times and assisted once. Most of his appearances came off the bench, playing just 895 cumulative minutes.
Jose Mourinho blocked Demba Ba's loan move from Chelsea to Arsenal
Demba Ba said in an interview with France Football that Jose Mourinho called him back from Arsenal on Deadline Day where he had gone to have a medical.
He said that the manager changed his mind on the transfer, as Mesut Ozil had arrived at the Emirates from Real Madrid, so he did not want to give the Gunners more firepower.
"I won't say I regret it, but I think back to the day when Jose (Mourinho) blocked my Chelsea loan at Arsenal," said Ba.
"It was the time of his return to the club (note: in 2013). And I think it would have been a very good move (transfer). It happened on the last day of the transfer window. I was in Paris, at rest, and Arsenal representatives called me to tell me it was going to get done."
He added:
"I then returned to London for medical. Upon arriving, I was well surprised that Mr Mourinho had blocked and prevented me from going to Arsenal.
"Mesut Ozil had arrived, and it would've been complicated to over-strengthen a competitor like Arsenal. From the perspective of the coach, (I can easily understand the decision), yes. But as a player, you are frustrated."
Demba Ba played 51 games for Chelsea and scored 14 times. He moved to Besiktas before playing at Shanghai Shenhua, Goztepe, İstanbul Basaksehi, and Lugano before calling it quits in 2013.