Nemanja Matic is a two-time Premier League champion but when the Sassuolo midfielder hangs up his boots, he might look back on 2015/16 and think he should have had a third title.
Leicester City's historic Premier League success overshadowed the failings of Chelsea, who left a pair of London rivals to take on the Foxes in the title race and had to settle for tenth place.
Nemanja Matic on Chelsea's disastrous Premier League title defence
"We’d started speaking with a few clubs in England and France. I hadn’t had Chelsea in mind because we didn’t have a contact, but then my agent told me that Jose Mourinho wanted me back at Chelsea, because he’d followed Benfica," Matic tells FourFourTwo of his return to Stamford Bridge.
"He said I’d be an important player for his team. I wanted to work with him, and I knew Chelsea and everyone who worked there. I made the right choice."
Matic rejoined Chelsea from Benfica in the January transfer window in 2014. That summer, the Blues set about a title charge that bore fruit in the form of the club's fifth league title.
"The club was well organised," says Matic. "Everything was prepared for us to perform well and only think about getting results. Roman Abramovich, technical director Michael Emenalo and Jose Mourinho were all winners.
"We had players who were ready to sacrifice themselves for the club – we were mentally ready to compete."
Chelsea's title defence was tepid, to say the very least. How does a team of ruthless victors finish the following season in mid-table?
"You use more energy because you’re fighting. We won the title three or four games before the end of the previous season. From that point on, we were unofficially on holiday," admits Matic.
"Then Jose gave us 35 or 40 days off. Some players came back a little overweight – I remember seeing them and thinking, ‘Oh, we’re in trouble.’
"When you don’t start a Premier League season well, every team is hard to beat.
"They sacked Mourinho and we weren’t happy to see him leaving, but Antonio Conte came in the next season and we won the league again."
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