Former Chelsea and Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has been speaking about the souring of his relationship with Jose Mourinho.
Johnson signed for Chelsea as a promising 18-year-old during Roman Abramovich's first transfer window in the summer of 2003.
However, he only made 71 appearances in total for the London club and never made the right-back slot his own.
In an interview with Talksport, he talked about how his relationship with Mourinho deteriorated.
❌ “I asked Mourinho to let me go & for 6 months he said no.”
🇫🇷 “Eventually he agreed to let me go on loan & I told him Lyon wanted me.”
😫 “I signed for Lyon but he ripped the contract up in front of me.”
Glen Johnson reveals how Mourinho dealt with him wanting to leave #CFC pic.twitter.com/UCb6rMPDxq— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 15, 2020
“We started to drift apart in terms of a relationship when I wasn’t playing,” the outspoken former player said.
“It was the year we won the league for the second time (05/06) but I didn’t play.
“I was 20 years old at the time and I knew my time was drifting away.
“I believed I was good enough to perform at that level, I just wasn’t getting the chance.”
Johnson felt he needed a move, so he went to Mourinho to request one.
“I totally respect your decision (to not pick him in the team), that’s absolutely fine but let me go then,” he told Mourinho.
The Portuguese coach initially refused and Johnson felt he was “playing games” with him and his career.
After six months Mourinho finally agreed to let the defender go out on-loan.
The then Chelsea boss wanted the defender to move to a Champions League club to gain experience so Johnson agreed a deal with Lyon.
“He was surprised as a young kid that I wanted to go abroad to play football,” Johnson said
“You wanted me to play Champions League football, well this it and I’m willing to do it.”
“He ripped the contract up in front of me and said he’d changed his mind.”
Mourinho then said that he wanted him to go to a Premier League club.
Eventually the right-back moved to Portsmouth on a loan deal that ended up becoming permanent.
"There wasn’t a relationship really at the end but I don’t care about that," Johnson said.
"If I go to work and get on with people, great, it’s a bonus. But I don’t go to work to make mates. I go to do my job."
Johnson had a strong spell at Portsmouth that earned him a move Liverpool where he stayed for six years. He ended his career at Stoke in 2018. Throughout his career, he gathered 54 England caps.
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