Matt Doherty has spoken out about his relationship with former Spurs boss Jose Mourinho, and it is quite the contradiction to the widely believed story of their shared time at the club.
Doherty signed for Spurs from Wolves in the summer of 2020, while Mourinho was still manager of the North London side. It would not be until the arrival of Antonio Conte as manager, however, that the Irishman would finally hit his stride at Spurs during the 2021-22 season.
Mourinho left the club unexpectedly just before the 2021 EFL Cup final against Manchester City, and Doherty said in his recent comments that he feels he let the Portuguese coach down.
Jose Mourinho was crucial in bringing Matt Doherty to Spurs
Matt Doherty has begun to settle back into the Spurs starting XI, after falling out of favour at the beginning of this season.
He recently marked two years at the club, after his 2020 move from Wolves when Jose Mourinho was still in charge of the club.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Doherty was asked whether he had moved to Spurs from Wolves purely for the extra money on offer. The Dubliner said that, in fact, it was partly the pull of playing for Jose Mourinho that drew him to North London, as well as the appeal of Champions League football.
Doherty also revealed that The Special One had told him that he was his number one transfer target at the club:
It’s easy to say that [I moved for the money]. That is a part of it also and it is part of the industry.
If someone is here [Doherty places his hand at medium height], then they want to get to here [raising hand to a higher level]. But first of all, José [Mourinho] was the manager and it would’ve been silly to say no to him. And he really wanted me.
He told me that I was his number one choice to come in. He even said to me that if the chairman came to him and said that he could only have one signing in the summer, I was the only one he wanted. So who would say no to that?
Spurs are a huge club, the training ground, the stadium, possibly fighting for Champions League football. I had run my course at Wolves. I wanted to try and leave that summer anyway, whether it was Tottenham or not. I had been there for so long and would have regretted staying any longer. Every player is different.
Doherty went on to address the rumours that Mourinho had hampered the player's form at White Hart Lane.
Jose Mourinho during his time in charge of Spurs (Photo: Shutterstock)
In actuality, Doherty said that Mourinho had been supportive throughout his time at Spurs, and that he felt he had let Mourinho down with his performances during their shared time at the club:
I let him down. People think he was bad for me, but it was the other way around. He put a lot of faith in me and I didn’t really perform. I just didn’t play well, I just didn’t grasp it...I don’t know. I just wasn’t able to get going there at the start.
The shape was obviously different [from Wolves]. The difference was that, at Tottenham, they have so much ability going forward, with the players they have, that maybe I wasn’t necessarily needed to play high and create stuff. So my main job was maybe just to be a defender. But my game is about going forward.
To be fair to José, they tried to play me high, but it wasn’t working for the team. We were leaving too much space. I just didn’t perform for him. He’s a great guy...I could sit here with him now and have dinner with him and have the best time ever. I spoke to him a few times about it, but I don’t know what it was. It’s a bit of a regret that I wasn’t able to perform like how he saw me in his head.
The comments from Doherty are fascinating, especially when viewed against the commonly held perception of Jose Mourinho's time in charge of Spurs.
Mourinho has since moved on to success at Roma, where he completed a sweep of all three European trophies by leading the club to the Europa Conference League last season.
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