Jose Mourinho has grabbed headlines since coming to the Premiership three seasons ago. Today he has spoken out about the hit-and-miss nature of bringing through young players at Stamford Bridge, using an analogy which we are likely to see quoted for some time to come.
“Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 per cent sure that the melon is good,” Mourinho said.
“Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don’t taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic.
“One thing is youth football, one thing is professional football. The bridge is a difficult one to cross and they have to play with us and train with us for us to taste the melon.
“For example, Scott Sinclair, the way he played against Arsenal and Man United, we know the melon we have.”