Matt Doherty knew it wasn’t going great at Tottenham, but who better to confirm that realisation than Jose Mourinho?
The Republic of Ireland international had been with Spurs less than a season, with the Special One going above and beyond to sign him.
"He told me that I was his number one choice to come in. He even said to me that if the chairman came to him and said that he could only have one signing in the summer, I was the only one he wanted. So who would say no to that?” Doherty said in the months after Mourinho’s inevitable demise in North London.
But despite being handpicked by Mourinho, the Portuguese quickly soured on the former Wolves star. "Today, he was not Matt Doherty like he normally is. These are the things that we knew could happen to us,” he said just two weeks after signing the Irishman.
And just six months later, Doherty admitted his career - one that started as a part-time player in the Irish League - hit rock bottom. Spurs travelled to face Aston Villa in the midst of coronavirus restrictions, and in the final throes of Mourinho’s disastrous reign.
With his managerial reputation hanging by a thread, he wanted a scapegoat and found it in the shape of the rampaging full-back. Mourinho also needed to send a message to Daniel Levy, so named teenagers Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett on the bench - leaving Doherty the odd man out.
“I went to get off the bus and Ledley [King], who was the coach at the time, said to me: 'You're not allowed in the changing room, you've got to stay on the bus',” Doherty recalled. "It was Covid, so you weren't allowed in the changed room if you weren't in the squad.
“Once the game started, I was allowed to go into the stands. I was just sat on the bus on my own. It was the international break straight after and, genuinely, I was so close to just getting in a car and going to the international, you know? I think we were meeting in Manchester anyway. I didn't in the end, I decided I'd stay and watch the game and then go.”
He added: “Obviously, he [Jose] was trying to prove a point to everybody, not just for me, but for the players who weren't there either, you know? But yeah, that was not fun.”
In fairness to the 31-year-old, he took full responsibility for the breakdown between himself and the manager - insisting he let Mourinho down more than the other way around. It didn’t get much better under Mourinho’s two successors, even with ex-Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo replacing his compatriot.
He didn’t last long before Antonio Conte was appointed - bringing a new formation which more closely resembled the one which saw him shine at Molineux. But a return to form never truly materialised and his unsuccessful two-and-a-half year stay in the capital was ruthlessly ended thanks to an admin error on Spurs’ part.
Atletico Madrid capitalised, managing to sign a player permanently that they had hoped to get on loan. Unfortunately, it quickly transpired that they didn’t also include manager Diego Simeone, and was instead a target of chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin.
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And in an Atletico power struggle there is only ever one winner - and it wasn’t Doherty. He was released at the end of the season and on the lookout for his third club in the space of six months.
He now looks set for a swift Premier League return and a sensational reunion with Wolves, who he played for more than 300 times in his first spell. It isn’t a universally popular move for a player that admitted his exit in the first place was - partially at least - motivated by money.
"Yeah, it’s easy to say that [when asked if he left for a bigger salary]. That is a part of it also and it is part of the industry,” he explained last year. He joins a very different Wolves to the one he left three years ago, with a new manager and a vastly changed squad.
That’s perhaps fortunate for Doherty, who, last October agreed with a sentiment shared by many fans on social media: "I had a great time at Wolves, but I think if I went back … you should never really go back."
For the second time in his career, his announcement may need to coincide with some old statements being deleted.
