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Jose Mourinho: Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta wishes old manager well at Tottenham

The 56-year-old has been named as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal at the north London club

Thursday 21 November 2019 09:17 GMT

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Jose Mourinho's career in numbers

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has wished Jose Mourinho well as Tottenham Hotspur’s new manager.

The 56-year-old has been named as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal at the north London club.

He met his new players following his hasty appointment, which was announced less than 12 hours after Pochettino was sacked, on Wednesday and then took training ahead of his first game in charge at West Ham on Saturday.

And Azpilicueta, who worked with Mourinho at Chelsea, has said that he hopes the Portuguese does well at Spurs.

“I can talk only when Jose was here at Chelsea with us,” Azpilicueta told Sky Sports News.

Tottenham winners and losers

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1/26Tottenham winners and losers

Tottenham winners and losers

Tottenham's winners and losers

Tottenham have this week made the controversial decision to sack Mauricio Pochettino and replace him with Jose Mourinho. But who are the winners and losers in the Tottenham dressing room following Daniel Levy's bold decision?

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Tottenham winners and losers

Hugo Lloris

LOSER

Tottenham’s captain has said on more than one occasion that when Pochettino leaves, he leaves. That he’s currently out injured only means Gazzaniga has even more time to assert himself as Tottenham’s number one.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Paulo Gazzaniga

WINNER

A winner by default. Mourinho has no choice but to play him.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Michel Vorm

WINNER

He’s somehow back at Spurs despite being released on a free transfer in the summer. More than that – he’s jumped up a place in the pecking order. He’s living his best life, regardless of who’s in charge at Spurs.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Danny Rose

WINNER

Rose knew what he was doing when he sought out the media to publicly undermine Pochettino’s authority last week. From that, you have to conclude that he got what he wanted.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Toby Alderweireld

WINNER

Another big winner. Mourinho was desperate for United to sign the Belgian, only to be thwarted by Ed Woodward. Don’t be surprised if a new one-year contract extension suddenly materialises.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Jan Vertonghen

WINNER

Was dropped at the beginning of the season for daring to criticise Pochettino’s tactics. In recent weeks it increasingly began to look as though his time at the club was over. But – like Alderweireld – likely to be welcomed back into the fold.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Davinson Sánchez

LOSER

One of the biggest losers from Levy’s decision to replace Pochettino with Mourinho. Pochettino saw him as the future of the club and, in recent matches, had played him ahead of both Alderweireld and Vertonghen. Likely to lose his place under Mourinho.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Kyle Walker-Peters

WINNER

Had been completely left out in the cold by Pochettino, who did not think he was good enough. He at least has a chance to prove that assessment wrong under Mourinho.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Juan Foyth

LOSER

Another big loser. Pochettino rates him incredibly highly but he had been forced to wait a long time for his chance in the first-team. That finally came this month – but he now risks falling back down the pecking order.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Serge Aurier

HONESTLY, WHO THE HELL KNOWS?

The maverick right-back has been in and out of the team this season. Perhaps Mourinho will see something in him. Or perhaps he will conclude that, at 26, Aurier’s inadequacies are too ingrained to fix.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Ben Davies

WINNER

Davies had fallen out of favour with Pochettino, who has preferred Rose this season. Now has a chance to win his starting place back.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Harry Winks

LOSER

Another to have lost his place in the starting team in recent weeks, but given what we know about Mourinho’s enthusiasm for big and powerful holding midfielders, it’s difficult to see how he benefits from this.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Erik Lamela

LOSER

Would have left the club long ago were it not for Pochettino.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Victor Wanyama

WINNER

Difficult to remember a time when he was not woeful. But a quintessential Mourinho player who may now be retrieved from the back of Tottenham’s sofa, dusted off and shoved back into the match-day squad.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Eric Dier

HIT THE JACKPOT!!!

The big winner. Another player that Mourinho was desperate to sign during his time at Manchester United. Factor in that Dier had been struggling for minutes under Pochettino and it’s difficult to think of a Spurs player that has benefited more.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Moussa Sissoko

LOSER

Pochettino turned him from a figure of ridicule into one of the club’s best players. He will sorely miss his guidance.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Giovani Lo Celso

LOSER

Made the decision to sign for Tottenham Hotspur because he wanted to work with Pochettino. Look how that turned out!

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Tottenham winners and losers

Ryan Sessegnon

LOSER

Another lured to the club by the prospect of working with Pochettino, who has a much better record than Mourinho for developing young players.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Dele Alli

WINNER

He owes everything to Pochettino. But it had gone stale. His career was flat-lining. He needed this change more than anybody.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Christian Eriksen

LOSER

Probably doesn’t give two shits either way, but here’s what Mourinho had to say on his situation at Spurs earlier this season: “I don't like to keep players that don't want to stay at the club. I think it is always really difficult. I am not thinking about the economical perspective, I mean from a motivational point of view.”

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Tottenham winners and losers

Lucas Moura

WINNER

A cult hero for his hat-trick against Ajax last season, but has barely had a sniff these past few months.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Tanguy Ndombele

LOSER

Pochettino’s top transfer target this summer and the man he wanted to build his new team around. Could now struggle with the additional defensive responsibilities that are about to be heaped on his plate.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Oliver Skipp

WINNER Mourinho loves throwing a young English player in at the deep end in a not-so-subtle message to his boardroom and Skipp could be the big winner in this regard.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Son Heung-min

WINNER One of Pochettino's most loyal players. But Spurs are not blessed with a great number of attacking players and Mourinho has spoken before of his admiration for the South Korea international.

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Tottenham winners and losers

Harry Kane

WINNER Hear us out. Mourinho will make him captain and build the team around him. Kane, like many others, had an outstanding relationship with Pochettino. But Kane will benefit from working with a new manager with so much experience.

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“We won trophies, and now football moves on. I wish him all the best even though he goes to a rival.

“I have good memories with him and I have played many times under him and against him.

“Obviously when we play against each other we both want to win for our teams, but this is football. I wish him well.”

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