Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich’s uneasy relationship at Chelsea finally broke down after the club owner’s decision to sign Andriy Shevchenko against his manager’s wishes.
The pair enjoyed considerable success together, including back-to-back Premier League titles, but their partnership was built on competing visions. Abramovich wanted Chelsea to become a global powerhouse playing attractive football, while Mourinho prioritised results and had strong opinions about which players should be brought to Stamford Bridge.
Abramovich had dismissed Claudio Ranieri in 2004 after a season without a trophy and saw Mourinho as the serial winner capable of delivering sustained success. The Portuguese manager, meanwhile, appreciated the owner’s willingness to fund major transfers but disliked Abramovich’s preference for glamorous, high-profile signings.
Those differences became impossible to ignore when Shevchenko arrived from AC Milan in the summer of 2006.
Chelsea wanted another striker to partner Didier Drogba as they pursued a third successive Premier League title and, above all, the Champions League. Mourinho had drawn up a list of preferred targets, with Samuel Eto’o of Barcelona understood to be his first choice. Shevchenko was not on it.
Abramovich, however, had been determined to sign the Ukraine captain for three years. His persistence eventually prevailed.
“Because of his persistence and as my life situation changed I decided the time was right,” Shevchenko said at the time. “It meant a lot to me that Chelsea have wanted me for the past three years and that is the reason I chose them.”
One-nil to Roman. Mourinho publicly accepted the decision, and there was at least a strong footballing case for the transfer. Shevchenko was regarded as one of the world’s finest forwards, having scored 173 goals for AC Milan and won the Ballon d’Or in 2004.
He scored on his Chelsea debut in the Community Shield against Liverpool. Chelsea lost 2-1, but Shevchenko’s composed finish suggested he might quickly become a Premier League star.
The reality proved more complicated. Shevchenko had spent the summer taking Ukraine to the World Cup quarter-finals and arrived in England after a demanding tournament. He also found the Premier League’s pace and physicality difficult to manage, regularly taking an extra touch and losing possession when quicker distribution was required.
Drogba’s outstanding form made Shevchenko’s adjustment still harder. The Ivory Coast captain produced the best season of his Chelsea career in 2006-07, scoring 33 goals – more than his combined total across his previous two seasons at the club.
Shevchenko was increasingly used in a wider position. He scored in wins against Portsmouth and Watford, but Drogba was clearly the leading figure in attack. Mourinho did little to disguise his admiration for his main striker.
“He is on top of his game and I don’t see anyone else playing and scoring like him in Europe right now,” the Chelsea boss said after Drogba scored a hat-trick against Watford.
Shevchenko still made a contribution, registering 14 goals and 12 assists during the 2006-07 campaign, with important Champions League goals against Porto and Valencia. Yet Chelsea supporters largely viewed his season as underwhelming, and tensions intensified in January.
After Chelsea failed to sign either Jermain Defoe or Milan Baros, Mourinho left Shevchenko out of the squad for the match against Wigan. The striker’s camp believed an injury that kept him out of the League Cup semi-final against Wycombe had been contrived, fearing he would face further criticism if he failed to score against a fourth-tier opponent.
Abramovich responded by telling Mourinho that no other striker would be added to the squad and ordering him to make proper use of Shevchenko.
Mourinho expected to be dismissed. Shevchenko had a close relationship with Abramovich, and the forward’s disappointing form reflected badly on the owner’s transfer decision. Mourinho’s rejection of a compromise involving the appointment of a Russian-speaking coach, believed to be Avram Grant, further damaged the relationship.
The manager remained in place, but Shevchenko continued to play only a limited role. Mourinho was angered when the striker withdrew from Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Liverpool because of a groin strain. Shevchenko did not play again that season.
Chelsea finished second in the league but lifted both the FA Cup and League Cup, with Drogba scoring the winning goal in each final.
“I wasn’t the key of the attack,” Shevchenko said in May 2007. “I was playing further behind, away from goal – different from how I played at Milan, and maybe that’s why Drogba scored so many goals this year.
“At Milan, I played in my natural role. Here I had to adapt to be something else, and I did it so I could help the team.”
The conflict between Mourinho and Abramovich continued into the following season before becoming irreparable. Shevchenko scored the last goal of Mourinho’s Chelsea reign in a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg, an appropriately ironic final contribution to the dispute.
Mourinho later admitted: “At Chelsea, he was not my first choice. I had asked for another player, and I know at the time the club were doing everything to get me the players I wanted, or at least one of them, but it wasn’t possible for various reasons.
“And when I was offered Shevchenko, I said yes because he is undoubtedly a player of quality.
“He was like a prince in Milan and at Chelsea our philosophy was different, we had no princes.”
Shevchenko was unable to revive his Chelsea career under Avram Grant and eventually left the club in 2009. He scored 22 goals in 77 appearances – a respectable return, but not one that matched expectations for a player of his standing.
The Ukraine forward did not blame Mourinho for his struggles in England.
“Injuries were the main cause of my lack of success in England,” he later said. “Chelsea fans never got to see the real Shevchenko. English football is more physical and quicker than Italian football, which is more technical.”
As Shevchenko prepared to face Mourinho as a managerial rival in Serie A, his defining association with Chelsea remained less about his goals than the role he played in the breakdown between the manager and Abramovich: an elite signing who became an unwitting pawn in a power struggle.
