Ricardo Carvalho has a really nice long interview on the Chelsea website for this international break, and there was a big focus on the summer where he came to the club, along with international teammates like Paolo Ferreira and Tiago Mendes, following Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge.
“It was almost at the same time in 2004. It was Mourinho who signed the contract first and I think at that point it was already in my head to join. The first player to sign was Paulo and then Tiago Mendes from Benfica, and at the end was myself in August.
“So when I arrived, there was already the technical staff I worked with in Porto, my team-mate Paulo, and Tiago, who I’d built a great relationship with. Of course, adapting was a little bit easier because I knew the methods that Mourinho was training and also the language. But in the end, the important thing was that we had great players in the club.
“I spent six years at Chelsea and in the first three years we had Paulo, Tiago, then after that came Hilario, then Bosingwa, who I also have a very good relationship with, and others too.
“So it was good to speak in the dressing room; after we’ve got our families and your own lives. But everyone was so social at that time at Chelsea, the results helped a lot for us to feel that we were a team.”
It shows what benefits there can be from bringing in players who are already familiar with each other – even just speaking the same language is a big benefit. We heard from Marc Cucurella this week how he was enjoying having a “Spanish mafia” now that Robert Sanchez and Moises Caicedo have joined him and Enzo Fernandez.
Squad building is about more than just picking the best players for each position. It’s about putting them in the right position to succeed, and we can take a lot of inspiration from the instant and long-lasting bonds created by Jose Mourinho’s squad back in 2004.
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