Former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien feels that Jose Mourinho is the perfect manager to get Radamel Falcao back to his best.
The Colombian was regarded as one of the most prolific No. 9s in the world before a failed loan at Manchester United last season in which he scored only four goals.
Undeterred by this dramatic dip in form, Mourinho has gambled on the 29-year-old striker and brought him to Stamford Bridge for at least the 2015-16 campaign.
And Essien, signed by the Portuguese for Chelsea and later for Real Madrid, has highlighted Mourinho’s “big ego” and his ability to individually motivate players as key to making him so special.
“We had a great group of players with a manager who was always behind us and kept pushing us,” he told The Guardian. “We had players with big egos and big characters but at the same time they were good men as well.
“Mourinho has a big ego as well – but in a good way. It was easy for him to manage those kind of players. He is still the same man. He’s still tough.
“He knows how to get the best out of his players, how to say the right thing, how to motivate them. He will get him back to the Falcao everybody knows.”
Falcao had scored 141 goals in 179 games across spells at Porto, Atletico Madrid and AS Monaco before moving to Old Trafford.
Essien spent eight seasons at Chelsea, winning two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League along the way.
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