.........A Different Ball Game

The former Brazilian international says he is speaking from personal experience with the pair having been friends since their youth, while more recently working together at Anzhi Machachkala. He told the Daily Mail:

I've known Eto'o since I was 16, and from that time on he's always been a good guy who I've liked a lot. He's a good person, but there a part of him that thinks 'I, and not the group', which is really damaging.

If ever there was a manager who didn't need to be warned about Eto'o and his so-called prima donna ways, it is Mourinho.
After all, the pair struck up a great bond at Inter Milan during Mourinho's time in Italy, winning the Champions League together in 2010.
Eto'o conducted himself admirably in that Inter team, too, hardly showing the characteristics of a player more interested in the "I, than the group" that Carlos explains.
It's a story we know so well. With Diego Milito in such good form, Eto'o was forced into a role out wide or he simply didn't play. And as the proverb says, "The rest is history," with the Cameroon international adapting his role at Inter and playing a major role in the club becoming European champions.
For all his tactical nous, his man management is probably Mourinho's greatest asset. He gets more out of players than most managers, creating a team spirit to be envied and one where every player is pulling in the very direction he wants and needs them to.
Without him around after his departure in 2007, the Chelsea dressing room crumbled. The influence of John Terry and other senior players cost the club dearly, especially Roman Abramovich, who has forked out millions in severance pay to managers who have not fitted in and been undermined.
What's impressive about Mourinho is that egos count for very little. With the exception of his three years at Real Madrid, he has controlled his players down to the minute detail and they become better for it.
He identifies the key players he needs on board and ensures they are very quickly. Take Frank Lampard's new Stamford Bridge contract—Mourinho knows his career has seen better days, but he needs senior stars like his No. 8 to help reinforce his philosophy on this Chelsea squad.
Mourinho is making it about the team at Chelsea. He did it during his first spell and he's doing it once more. It's about the collective.
His press conferences are riddled with quotes with quotes of "us" and "we." He never rests in reinforcing that to his players, ensuring they understand that a team ultimately wins trophies.
He's embracing the new-found youth at Chelsea and as we've seen in the past, he works best when he's creating the stars rather than inheriting them.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.