Jose Mourinho ‘hammered Nemanja Matic and threatened to sell him at half-time in a FRIENDLY’

Jose Mourinho once ‘hammered’ Nemanja Matic and ‘threatened to get rid of him’ at half-time during a Chelsea pre-season friendly against AFC Wimbledon.

The incident happened in 2014, during Mourinho’s second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge, and ahead of a season that would see him win a third Premier League title with the club.

But thoughts of glory were a long way distant when a strong Chelsea side trailed their League Two opponents 2-0 midway through a July friendly at Kingsmeadow.

Nemanja Matic (left) was ‘hammered’ by his manager Jose Mourinho for a poor performance in a 2014 pre-season friendly against League Two AFC Wimbledon (pictured)

An unhappy Mourinho threatened to sell Matic, who’d only returned six months before

And, according to the recollections of Jordan Houghton, a midfielder who’d come through Chelsea’s academy and was hoping for a chance in Mourinho’s first team, it almost proved the end for Matic.

The Serbian had only just returned to Chelsea from Benfica six months earlier in a deal worth £21million. 

Remembering his 15 years at Chelsea, Houghton told Goal.com: ‘I got [John] Terry’s signed shirt in the under-9s as he was my idol at the time but I was nervous because I thought I wasn’t supposed to do it.

‘It was surreal that I trained and played with him. I see him as a friend now which is more surreal.

‘We played together against Wycombe and AFC Wimbledon and it was under Mourinho.

Mourinho on the sidelines at Kingsmeadow as Chelsea came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2

Mourinho later signed Serbian midfielder Matic when in charge of Manchester United

‘Against Wimbledon, I remember Mourinho absolutely hammering Matic and threatening to get rid of him, so that was an eye-opener! I then went on tour with the first team.

‘I took what I could from training with these guys and the first player who stood out was Deco. He was just a class player with his touches. Didier Drogba, Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, (Frank) Lampard and John Terry.

‘But I think Eden Hazard was the best first-team player that I played with. He was incredible but he didn’t train so hard to be fresh for big games in the difficult periods. He was unplayable when he turned it on in training.

Jordan Houghton recalled the story – he was a Chelsea academy graduate hoping to break into the first team back in 2014

‘I remember really enjoying training under [Roberto] Di Matteo, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez.’

Matic started in midfield alongside Marco van Ginkel against Wimbledon in a starting XI that also included Mohamed Salah and Mark Schwarzer but was comprised mainly of young players including Andreas Christensen, Nathan Ake and Patrick Bamford.

Mourinho’s side went a goal down to Wimbledon’s Alan Bennett after just 38 seconds and Matt Tubbs converted a penalty just before half-time.

Matic was one of the players withdrawn at half-time with Chelsea bringing on more experienced names such as Terry and Branislav Ivanovic.

Mourinho’s angry words clearly had some effect as they came from behind to win 3-2 thanks to a double from Terry and another from Salah. Houghton came on for Van Ginkel with 21 minutes left.

Houghton, now 24, would have four loan spells away from Chelsea at Gillingham, Plymouth Argyle and Doncaster Rovers (twice) before signing for MK Dons in 2018.

John Terry headed home a last-minute winner to spare Chelsea’s blushes at Wimbledon 

Mourinho would go on to win his third Premier League title at Chelsea later that season