Jose Mourinho left Troy Deeney laughing with a fierce comment after Watford beat Manchester United
Jose Mourinho and Troy Deeney said things that will forever live in Premier League folklore.
From 'I'd rather not talk' to comments about Arsenal's 'drawers', both men know how to shape a sentence.
So it is no surprise that the first meeting between the two football figures was quite memorable.
It came on September 18, 2016, when Mourinho… Manchester United He travelled to Vicarage Road in the Premier League.
Deeney and Watford added to the Red Devils' misery by inflicting a third consecutive defeat on them, the first time that had happened to Mourinho since 2002, during his time at Porto.
Marcus Rashford had cancelled out Etienne Capoue's opener for the Hornets before late goals from Odion Ighalo and Deeney sealed a famous victory.
When Deeney bumped into Mourinho in the corridors at Vicarage Road after the match, the Watford captain understandably kept his distance – before the United manager spotted him.
“He's a legend,” the former striker recalled in an interview with talkSPORT.com.
“Because he also speaks frankly every time I've met him.
“My first game with Jose, we beat Manchester United at Vicarage Road. 3-1, we beat them. And I scored.
“I remember going to the family house, I had some friends there and I said hello to them.
“Then I went downstairs to my box where my family was. He was talking on the phone on the stairs and I was waiting.
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“I didn't want to interrupt him or ask him to move. And then he looked at me and told whoever was on the phone to give him a second or whatever, that he was speaking in Portuguese.
“He said, ‘Are you okay? ’ I said, ‘Yeah, I just wanted to stop by, I didn’t want to interrupt you. ’”
“And he said, 'You just beat us 3-1, you can do whatever you want.'”
“I said to him, ‘That’s great.’ We laughed and joked afterwards, but he said to me, ‘You played well, good luck for the future.’ And I said the same to him.
“That was when United had Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney Up front. It was appropriate.
“With Marcus (Rashford) on the left, (Marouane) Fellaini and (Paul) Pogba in the middle. It was a perfect team.”
It turns out Deeney left his own mark on Mourinho.
When the 'Special One' returned to England with Tottenham several years later, he called Deeney in 2020 to ask about his availability.
Spurs were on the hunt for a substitute striker. Harry Kanewith then Benfica star Carlos Vinicius topping their list.
“Vinicius was his main support and it got to the point where if that didn’t happen we would bring in Troy,” Deeney recalled.
“I spoke to Mourinho and asked him what he wanted to do, how he wanted to do it.
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“I remember it was a quick turnaround too, as the COVID season ended in July and then we started playing again in September.
“So the question was whether I would be able to move from being the main player to being one of the team. Because I was the main player at Watford and I was the captain. And my conversation was something like: 'Look, if I get the opportunity to play, then I will play.'
“Because I was trying to think, remember the great Spanish striker who went there from Swansea (Fernando Llorente). He kept scoring, didn’t he? Every time, the League Cup and all that.
“And I thought if I could do that, I'd be a good job. I said all I was going to do was push Harry to be the best version of himself he could be and be his biggest cheerleader. Playing for Spurs is way beyond my wildest dreams.”
“He said, okay, if we can't do this, we'll do that. Because obviously Vinicius was younger, he had an age profile, etc.
“I understood that and he was honest with me, which was easy. And then, unfortunately for me, they closed the deal with Vinicius.”
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