Jose Mourinho, former Chelsea director and now directing Inter Milan, talks to commentator Jamie Redknapp about the differences he sees in the manner the game is played in Italy and England

Mourinho: It ‘s all about passion, endowment and ne’er mind the mark: Jose Mourinho

First and foremost: Jose Mourinho with his Inter participants at preparation ; and all the clip he is looking for passion Photograph: Alpha fetoprotein

Jamie Redknapp: You like English participants. You worked with John Terry. I know you are really near to Frank Lampard. What do you believe are the chief differences between Italian football players and English football players, in footings of their outlook?

JM: [ laughs ] It is hard to state because I do n’t hold merely Italian participants. I have two or three Italian participants. Our name says Internazionale – but I have participants from 10-12 different states.

A I guess it is easier to be a director in England. You have a different construct of who is the foreman, what the foreman means. Merely by that rule, it is much easier.

Here [ in Italy ] you must be top, top, top in the manner that you manage emotions. Because participants are more free to show themselves, to show an sentiment. Something I was making with my people at Chelsea was to do them take part more in the whole procedure. I do n’t wish to be the sort of leader who works entirely. I want people to be involved in my undertakings.

At Chelsea I had to contend for that. And I took some clip to do people fall in my undertaking. After that, you have participants in manus, you have participants in the pocket. Everybody belongs to the same household. And everybody expresses themselves. Here people feel more free. It ‘s a different manner of life.

You were a top participant Jamie, you know that in England the strength of the game is higher than any other state. But at the same clip – and I tell this to your cousin [ Frank ] , because I speak with him frequently – here it is more hard to play football. Every squad is much, much better organised from the tactical point of position. I used to state that a top squad in England is at the same degree as a top squad in Italy or even better. The last few old ages the Champions League consequences show that the top Italian squads were non at the degree of the top English squads. But when you go to the title world, the little squads in Italy are better than the little squads in England.

It ‘s much more hard for a top squad in Italy to win a game than in England because, from the tactical point of position, people are non worried about the quality of the show. Peoples are merely worried about the consequence. So, if a squad comes for illustration, to Stamford Bridge, loses 1-0 and does n’t kick a ball towards the end of Petr Cech, people will knock. No quality, no aspiration in that game.

If a squad comes to the San Siro, loses 1-0, does n’t kick a ball to our end and they park two coachs, they are non criticised for that. Here you play merely for the consequence. For the large squads to win, it ‘s more hard.

Junior: What advice would you give to any immature participant that dreams of going a professional football player?

JM: Passion is the key for everything. As an illustration: I do n’t cognize if my child is traveling to be a football participant or non. The lone thing I know is that he sleeps with a ball. He takes the ball to bed, he takes the ball to school. Sometimes he forgets a book – but he ne’er forgets the ball. Of class, he is a child of nine old ages old. When you have childs of 15, 16, 17, that passion is still cardinal. If you are non in love with the game, how can you take this life for the following 10 or 15 old ages?

Passion is the thing I ever want. If I see one of my participants without the passion to develop every twenty-four hours, I feel really sad because I think that passion is the key. After that, endowment. Because if you have no endowment, you have no opportunity. So when I look to a immature participant and I try to think, to experience if he can make the highest degree. I go for quality and for passion. This is really of import. ”

Juniors: From a director ‘s point of position – and my pa ever said this to me – the most hard portion is stating a immature participant that they are non traveling to be good plenty to do it at their nine.

JM: I had that experience because, in my beginning, I was a sub-16, sub-14 manager in my place metropolis. In the summer, before the season starts, you ever have that period of tests, where you have 100 childs from which to take 10 or 15 to do your squad for the twelvemonth. And that is heartbreaking.

The school system should supply protection. Because one thing is football for all, athleticss for all. Another thing is the route to excellence, the route to competition. When the child does non hold the endowment for that route to excellence, I think the school system must supply protection. Which is to give them conditions to take part. If a child is non good plenty for a nine competition, for certain, he ‘s good plenty for a school competition. In states where the school athleticss system is really well-organised – for illustration, the United States – this is n’t a job. I think the school system, the authorities, the state should supply protection for this sort of letdown. And the letdown in the childs, sometimes, is dramatic.

Junior: Sometimes I merely experience that childs who have been at a football nine, where everything has been laid on a home base for them, do n’t gain how lucky they are.

JM: I have some male childs [ at Inter Milan ] and, in your calling, you had some male childs in the same squads as you – that they do n’t cognize how lucky they are. This is one of the things that kills me: when I have a child with endowment, with the chance, and they do n’t understand it. Sometimes they merely understand it when the calling is over. When they become 30 or 35, it is so that they say: ‘I made a error, I lost the opportunity ‘ .

Junior: What does Jose Mourinho expression for in a immature participant?

JM: “ It ‘s a cocktail of qualities. It ‘s hard for me to state which 1 is the most of import: aspiration, passion, desire. Of class, technically they must be good. Intelligent to understand the tactical development of the game, the procedure that you are traveling to set them through. I think the best manner to depict it is to state there is a cocktail. We go for the profile which is the perfect profile: he ‘s fast, he ‘s strong, he has legerity, technically he ‘s great, he has imaginativeness ; he has assurance ; he ‘s non afraid to put on the line some actions in the game ; he understands football.

The merchandise comes to you, non handed, but after one twelvemonth or two old ages, you finish the merchandise and you feel proud. For illustration, for me, Santon [ Davide ] is playing for the Italian national squad at 18 old ages old. He came here at 16A? and was cipher. Your pa, with Frank Lampard ; when he was at this degree, playing for West Ham. He was cipher. These sort of state of affairss are like cups, these are trophies, for us directors.

Jamie Redknapp was questioning Jose Mourinho for Football ‘s Next Star, which starts tonight at 8pm on Sky1 HD. The seven-part series follows Redknapp as he mentors a group of kids trusting to win a contract at Inter Milan