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Florent Malouda has revealed how Jose Mourinho denied his request to pick his favorite squad number when he moved to Chelsea.
The Frenchman joined the Blues from Lyon for £17.1 million in 2017 and went on to play 229 games in all competitions across six seasons for the Stamford Bridge outfit. He registered 45 goals and 43 assists, helping the club win one Premier League title, one Champions League trophy, three FA Cups and one Community Shield.
Malouda was a first-team regular during his time in west London, but has now discussed details about his first meeting with then-manager Mourinho. The Portuguese boss had just delivered Chelsea back-to-back league titles and signed Malouda to fill the void created by Arjen Robben's departure.
The winger asked for the club's number seven shirt, but Mourinho bluntly rejected his request. Malouda told Labrokes (as per The Star):
"My first conversation with Jose Mourinho was great. I was so relieved to have got the green light to travel to London to finalize my contract. We talked for a while about which number I was going to wear. In France I wore the number seven shirt, so I asked Jose about the availability of that. He said 'No, Sheva [Andriy Shevchenko] is number seven. Forget about it'."
Malouda stated that Mourinho then asked him to wear Didier Drogba's former No. 15 jersey, with the Ivorian then wearing No. 11.
"[I asked Mourinho] Which numbers are available, then? [He told me] 'Your brother Didier wore number 15 for a couple of seasons when he arrived, before he changed to number 11, so why don't you wear that? Take your brother's number'".
Didier Drogba helped Florent Malouda join Chelsea
Malouda stated that Mourinho also informed him that Drogba played a key role behind his switch to Chelsea. The 42-year-old further added:
"He also told me I needed to thank Didier for getting the deal across the line! He referred to Didier as my manager, and told me he'd done a good job to bring me to the club."
The late 2000s and early 2010s brought levels of success to Stamford Bridge that had never been seen before, with Mourinho starting the journey.
