"Young players now want to be rich before they've even kicked a ball" - Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has criticised the culture of modern-day footballers and has revealed his Real Madrid stars queued in front of the mirror before a match.

The Chelsea boss says aspiring players of today want to make millions before they have even kicked a ball in the Premier League.

Instead, he wishes youngsters would follow the example of Frank Lampard and John Terry, who he says were ‘fanatical for victories’.

In an interview with Esquire magazine, Mourinho bemoaned the thirst for wealth and celebrity in the game, and outed his Real players - which included the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos - over their vanity.

‘Lots of times at Real Madrid, the players would be queuing in front of the mirror before the game while the referee waited for them in the tunnel,' he said.

‘But that’s how society is now. Young people care a lot about this: they are twenty-something and I am 51 and if I want to work with kids I have to understand their world.

‘How can I stop my players on the bus doing, er, what do you call? Twitters and these things? How can I stop them if my daughter and my son do the same? So, I have to adapt to the moment.’

And, of the premature desire for wealth which Mourinho feels is plaguing the sport, he added: ‘What I feel is that before, players were trying to make money during their career, be rich at the end of their career.

‘But in this moment, the people who surround them try to make them rich before they start their career.

‘They try to make them rich when they sign their first contract, when they didn’t play one single match in the Premier League, when they don’t know what it is to play in the Champions League.’