It was Danny Rose at Tottenham, Juan Mata at Chelsea and now it seems reported Everton target Gonzalo Villar could become the latest high-profile victim of Jose The Remorseless.
One of the first names on the team sheet during Paulo Fonseca’s last season at Roma, the Spain international is finding out how fickle top-level football can be.
Fonseca’s departure and Mourinho’s subsequent arrival has coincided with a fall from grace that would make even Fernando Torres wince.
Villar hasn’t played a single minute of Serie A football this season. He has been left out of the match-day squad entirely for three of Roma’s seven league fixtures too.
And when asked to explain Villar’s absence, Mourinho responded in typically prickly fashion.
Villar finds himself out in the cold at Roma
“I don’t understand the question about Villar. Why this question?” the former Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur boss protested.
“There is no problem with Villar. Maybe his problem is with (Bryan) Cristante and (Jordan) Veretout, who are playing very well? This is not a problem for Villar, rather it is a good thing for the team.
“Why was he always a starter last season? What can I answer? I have a different vision of football from Fonseca and he had other options.”
You can say that again.
Roma, in the space of one April afternoon, sacked a purist and hired a pragmatist, replacing a forward-thinking, possession-heavy tactician with a man who literally invented the phrase ‘parking the bus’.
A technically gifted, tempo-setting number six came to epitomise Fonseca’s football at Roma. Villar idolises Andres Iniesta and has been likened to former Giallorossi playmaker David Pizarro by the man himself – but Mourinho has often built his sides around ball-winners rather than ball-players; a Claude Makelele, a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
This was a guy who transformed Pepe into an Achilles-scraping, card-collecting defensive midfielder after all.
Is Gonzalo Villar on his way to Everton in January?
According to Calciomercato, Everton are considering a January approach for Villar, offering the 23-year-old a fresh start in the Premier League.
A superb passer of the ball who can control the tempo of a game from a deep-lying midfield role, Villar may the closest thing the Toffees have had since the last Spanish midfielder to wear royal blue – Mikel Arteta.
And it’s hard to imagine Mourinho standing in Villar’s way. Unless, of course, he’s willing to stunt a young player’s career just to annoy his old adversary Rafa Benitez?
With Jose, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected.
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