Is Not Signing Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard Jose Mourinho's Biggest Regret?
It's not often that Jose Mourinho will talk eloquently about a player he has never coached.
Indeed, it's even rarer for the Chelsea manager to raise such a subject in a press conference when it's not on the media's agenda.
Both happened on Friday.
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Steven Gerrard will play at Stamford Bridge for the last time when Liverpool face Chelsea this weekend, as he is leaving the Reds this summer to join MLS outfit LA Galaxy.
It seems that Mourinho is just as emotional about his departure as the most ardent of Liverpool fans.
"It's my time to honour a champion; it's my time to honour Steven Gerrard," Mourinho explained. "To say that it's with opponents like him that I am the manager that I am.
"I learn with my players and I learn with my best opponents...with the problems they gave me and the way that they make me think; the way they make me analyse them and to study to play against them.
"Steven Gerrard is for sure one of my favourite enemies, an enemy with all the good feeling I can express with that word in football. For sure, in England, he is my dear enemy. He is the one that made me a better manager."
It was high praise; praise normally reserved for the players that have won trophies for Mourinho. It's John Terry, Didier Drogba, Javier Zanetti, Frank Lampard and the rest who hold Mourinho's affections.
And clearly Gerrard.
Mourinho may respect opponents, but it's different with the Liverpool captain. There is a genuine fondness for him, yet he hasn't run the hard yards in the way Lampard did; he hasn't scored goals for Mourinho like Drogba, or put his body on the line like Terry.
The emotion could be heard in Mourinho's delivery. This was a considered tribute to a player who has served one of Chelsea's biggest rivalries in an era when tensions between the clubs have been at their highest.
Gerrard has captained teams to victories over Chelsea on the biggest stage. He was part of those teams that gave Mourinho his two biggest defeats in his first spell at Stamford Bridge when Liverpool defeated them in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League semi-finals.
He was there in 2006 at Old Trafford when Liverpool progressed to the FA Cup final at Chelsea's expense.
Yet the admiration remains.
"I need people like him to make me a better coach, so I have to honour him," continued Mourinho. "I am very sad that he is leaving, the same as our Frank Lampard.
"I tried to bring him to Chelsea, I tried to bring him to Inter [Milan], I tried to bring him to Real Madrid and he was always at the enemy."
Mourinho's words leave us to conclude that Gerrard will always be the one who got away, despite his views being on the contrary.
"No, I am very happy that he didn't [sign for me] because in the end I think he has done an amazing career with his people," Mourinho professed.
When you're Jose Mourinho, the name and reputation comes with a certain level of clout. If he wants something, he normally gets it—be that a player, a refereeing decision or, as we've seen this season, a whole country debating a phantom campaign against his team.
By not dancing to his tune with the temptation of trophies and riches Liverpool couldn't offer, maybe that fuels the feeling; Gerrard's the only player to say no to Mourinho and really mean it.
This is Mourinho, however. There's more to it than that.
Chelsea fans will sing on Sunday about Gerrard's slip at Anfield last season, yet he's a player very much in the mould of those who have made the club so great in modern times.
Mourinho's love affair with English football is deeply rooted in the traditions we find here—it's about the perceived fair play, the passion among supporters.
At the top of his list is the character embedded in the players, those very English qualities that make up for a lack of footballing ability at times.
Study Mourinho's teams wherever he travels; even look at this Chelsea team now. He surrounds himself with talent, but of equal importance is the ability to battle and take leadership in the moments that matter.
That's what makes his teams impenetrable, capable of achieving where others fail.
Gerrard is a Mourinho player—he just never played for him. Regardless of the defeats he may have received, the pain he felt at his hands, Mourinho sees Gerrard as one of his own.
Just how great the Chelsea midfield would have been with Gerrard playing alongside Lampard will always be debated. Sven Goran Erikson himself probably considers it frequently, given his failure to make them jell at an international level.
In his mind's eye, Mourinho must as well. Twice he pursued Gerrard at Chelsea in an attempt to complete his master plan.
Was Gerrard the missing piece that prevented him from bringing the Champions League to Stamford Bridge, from winning a treble of league titles and not just those first two?
Regrets are often born out of the unknown, from a desire to achieve something but failing in the process.
For a striker it will be missing a goal at a vital stage of a match that ends in defeat; for a goalkeeper it's not making the save that keeps his team in a game.
Mourinho's a man who has obtained most of the things he's desired, but Gerrard hasn't been one of them.
If regret isn't the emotion of choice, we'll call it repentance.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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