Chelsea signed Brazilian defender Alex in 2004, but, due to problems in attaining a work permit, the Blues loaned him out to PSV for three full seasons.
Eventually, Alex joined up with the squad at the beginning of the 2007/08 campaign, with Jose Mourinho as his manager.
His relationship with Mourinho didn't last long, with the Portuguese boss sacked in September 2007, but Alex has fond memories of working with him at Chelsea - not least the customary initiation song he had to perform for his new teammates.
"He’s a lovely person," Alex tells FourFourTwo about Mourinho. "Many people still ask me if he’s a difficult coach to deal with – believe me, I have only nice words to say about him.
"Unfortunately, we worked together for only three months. When I joined Chelsea, I had to sing in front of the whole squad; perhaps it was the day that Mourinho laughed most in his entire life.
"I’m not a great singer. I think I chose a gospel number, but at some point Mourinho came up to the improvised stage and said, “Enough, boy, you’re really bad'."
After Mourinho's departure, Alex had spells at Stamford Bridge under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas.
He only ended up making nine appearances in all competitions under Villas-Boas, despite only being 29 and supposedly in the peak of his career. The Portuguese disagreed, though, locking Alex and Nicolas Anelka out of Chelsea's first team dressing room because they weren't "committed" enough.
"I suffered a knee injury at the beginning of the 2011-12 season and underwent surgery, so I wasn’t available when AVB took charge," Alex describes. "When I recovered, the team wasn’t doing so well. I didn’t play particularly great, either.
"He wanted to send a message to the squad, and chose to leave Nicolas Anelka and I training separately from the first team. The next day, he said we weren’t committed to the team. We accepted his decision – what else could we do? – but the worst part was when Anelka and I went to collect our things and security wouldn’t let us into the first team’s changing room.
"We were asked to come back another time after the training session. That was a sad episode. So, we trained with the reserves and luckily Paris Saint-Germain made me an offer."
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