Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho urges celebrity-obsessed footballers to follow examples set by John Terry and Frank Lampard

 
Agency5 March 2014

The modern-day footballer is plagued by a desire for instant wealth and celebrity, rather than sporting success, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has said.

The 51-year-old, whose side currently sit four points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League, said players ought to focus on winning games instead of spending time styling themselves in front of mirrors ahead of matches.

In an interview with lifestyle magazine Esquire, two-time Champions League winner Mourinho said the next generation of footballers ought to look to Chelsea stalwarts John Terry and Frank Lampard as inspiration for success.

He said: "What I feel is that before, players were trying to make money during their career, be rich at the end of their career. But in this moment, the people who surround them try to make them rich before they start their career.

"They try to make them rich when they sign their first contract, when they didn't play one single match in the Premier League, when they don't know what it is to play in the Champions League. This puts the clubs in difficult conditions sometimes."

He added: "You have to find the right boy: the boy who wants to succeed, has pride and passion for the game.

"His dream is not one more million or one less million, his dream is to play at the highest level, to win titles, because if you do these things you'll be rich the same at the end of your career.

"So we are working hard to give the best orientation to young players, to follow examples of guys from the past - the Lampards, the Terrys - who were always fanatical for victories."

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The former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager, who is in his second spell with Chelsea, described how "the players would be queuing in front of the mirror before the game while the referee waited for them in the tunnel" during his time in Spain.

He told the magazine, which is out now: "But that's how society is now. Young people care a lot about this: they are twentysomething and I am 51 and if I want to work with kids I have to understand their world.

"How can I stop my players on the bus doing, er, what do you call?... Twitters and these things? How can I stop them if my daughter and my son do the same? So, I have to adapt to the moment."

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