Mourinho hits out at ‘brats’ in modern football

Matt Stead

Jose Mourinho has branded younger players in modern football “brats”, and says he has had to “adjust” to cope.

Mourinho drew comparison between Frank Lampard, 26 at the age of his first appointment as Chelsea manager in 2004, and players of a similar age in the modern day.

He bemoaned the effect that mobile phones have on players, and says that “professionalism” has suffered.

“I have had to adapt to a new world and what young players are like now,” Mourinho said in an interview with France Football.

“I had to understand the difference between working with a boy like Frank Lampard who, at the age of 23, was already a man – who thought football, work, professionalism – and the new boys today, who at the age of 23 are kids.

“Today I call them ‘boys’ and not ‘men’. Because I think that they are brats and that everything that surrounds them does not help them in their life nor in my work. I had to adjust to all of that.

“Ten years ago, no player had a mobile phone in the dressing room. That is no longer the case. But you have to go with it, because if you fight that you are bringing about conflict and you risk putting yourself in the stone age.”

There are no 23-year-olds in Manchester United’s first-team squad. There is one 22-year-old – Eric Bailly, and two aged 24. Bloody Paul and Jesse.