Carvalho: Is His Career Balding?
The Spanish giants Real Madrid have completed the signing of Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, despite their manager Jose Mourinho’s claims that he was no longer interested in signing the 31 year old Portuguese center back. Mourinho was cold and ruthless as he gave Ancelotti a false sense of security and then pulled the rug out from under him, leaving him without yet another important player with the first fixture of the upcoming season only days away.
Mourinho has out done himself this time, lying and giving out false information is one thing but Mourinho has taken mind games to a whole new level. In the wake of recent events, Benitez would come second in the mind games department. Unlike Ramires, who will probably take another year to complete his medical, Carvalho successfully passed his medical and is now a player of Real Madrid.
Carvalho cannot seem to stop following Mourinho, like a moth to a flame, Carvalho followed the Special One to Chelsea in 2004, and when Mourinho left for Inter Milan, Carvalho considered getting a transfer there but stayed put. It seems as though all this time he had no interest at Stamford Bridge, putting in half hearted performances for the Blues; he probably spent all his time plotting and planning – waiting for the right time to leave. An example of his form can be drawn by comparing his performance for club with country; there was a stark difference in his playing style and commitment. While he was sharp, and on top of his game for Portugal, he had made sloppy, careless passes and mistakes for Chelsea, often costing them goals.
Chelsea fans may mourn now, Carvalho had been fantastic in his first few years for the Blues, but in the long run they will realize that it is a miracle that he has left now. If he had stuck around when he obviously did not, it would have left a gaping hole in the Blues defense, which has been very solid so far. The John Terry-Carvalho partnership was good while it lasted, but as the saying goes: all good things come to an end, so did this. And in this case, sooner was better than latter because Carvalho is ageing. One could argue that so is the rest of the Chelsea squad, but when the signs of balding appear, you know you have trouble. This is not only referring to his big, balding bulb of a head, but instead to his career as well.
With Chelsea, Carvalho won 3 League Titles, 2 FA Cups and countless number of other achievements, and he had the comfort of having a confirmed place in the starting eleven. In Madrid, he will have to compete with Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Paul Albiol. Carvalho could try and console himself by thinking he is Mourinho’s favorite and will not just be a bench warmer, but he is mistaken. It is true that Mourinho likes to travel with his favorite players, but Mourinho, who is big on defense, will not make the mistake of playing Carvalho if he thinks it will affect Madrid’s chances of winning the treble. So because of his own misjudgment, Carvalho has ended his career earlier than it would have, had he stayed at Stamford Bridge.
After he completed the move to Madrid, Carvalho told reporters in a press conference, “Wherever Mourinho goes, he wins. He is a great coach, as he has demonstrated in the past.” There is no doubt as to Mourinho’s coaching abilities; he has the knack of winning in his first season. But the Portuguese should think back to last season and realize that when Chelsea won their first ever double, the Premier League and the FA Cup, it was not Mourinho coaching the Blues, but Italian Carlo Ancelotti.
Not only did Chelsea win the double for the first time, they scored more goals than ever before, 103, with Drogba winning the golden boot and goalkeeper Petr Cech claiming the golden glove. It will interesting to see if Mourinho will be able to duplicate last season’s success in Spain, and how much of a role the balding Carvalho plays in it.
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