Chelsea what ifs: Jose Mourinho’s transfer dreams come true in 15/16

Jose Mourinho had big plans for the 2015/2016 transfer window. He was sacked at Chelsea after those plans fell apart, but what if his dreams came true?

The 2014 end of the 2014/2015 season is arguably the way Jose Mourinho wanted Chelsea to play. That stagnated by the 2015 end of the season and it was clear Mourinho wanted a revamp to return to that earlier form.

He asked for Paul Pogba and John Stones. He got Papy Djilobodji. The 2015 summer transfer window went down in infamy. Mourinho, for a myriad of other reasons on top of it, was sacked when his Chelsea revamp turned into a dud.

What if Mourinho had gotten the players he wanted though? Would Pogba and Stones have changed the course of Mourinho’s career not only at Chelsea but overall? Would the Blues have avoided the embarrassment of that season?

The first notion to set aside is Mourinho’s real life tumultuous relationship with Pogba. It was a growing disaster at Manchester United between the two but that is not necessarily an indication that the same would have happened at Chelsea.

One need only look at Juan Mata to add some proof to that statement. At Chelsea, Mourinho had no place for the Spanish magician. At United he was a frequent starter if not a trusted player to boot. Pogba, Mourinho, and United may have been the wrong combination at the time. Pogba, Mourinho, and Chelsea may not have been.

Meanwhile, Stones was requested so Chelsea could begin to play a higher line. John Terry was showing signs of slowing down and part of what caused Mourinho to shell the Blues up was their lack of ability to play a high line. Stones, plus Pogba, would have given Mourinho more to work with on that front.

Switching to a 4-3-3 with Stones (and Kurt Zouma) coming in and out for Terry and Gary Cahill and Pogba forming a midfield three with Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic, Chelsea becomes a tour de force again. The Blues start the season hot and sweep aside most teams as the year continues.

Things do sour a bit come the winter, but overall Chelsea is much more successful. Without the rough patch at the start of the season, the Blues are able to build momentum in a positive direction instead of a negative one. They narrowly miss out on the Premier League and the Champions League, but overall things are trending in a good direction.

At least until 2016/2017. Mourinho again demanded more money for more big signings but Chelsea emptied the war chest the previous season. Pep Guardiola’s return to the league riles Mourinho and he begins to deteriorate into spats with basically the entire league. The season starts slowly and Chelsea enters the winter barely hanging on to fourth place.

When it becomes clear that new signings will not arrive in the winter and results dip further in January, the Portuguese manager is sacked with Chelsea sinking into midtable.

Mourinho was seemingly always destined to fall in the managerial world. It was only a matter of how long it could be delayed once Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp arrived in the league. Pogba and Stones could have delayed his fall, but they would not have stopped it.

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