Jese does not regret Mourinho criticism

Former Real Madrid attacker Jese Rodriguez says he does not have any regrets over his decision to criticise Jose Mourinho during his time at Santiago Bernabeu.

The attacker - currently on loan at Las Palmas from Paris Saint-Germain - came through the ranks of the Madrid youth academy, but failed to hold down a first-team place under Mourinho despite a good run of form for Real Madrid Castilla in 2012-13, having made his senior debut the previous season.

Jese criticised Mourinho for his lack of faith in the club's youngsters, seemingly harming his chances of making the step up, but he has no regrets over his actions.

"I do not regret it. I am a sincere person and I always say what I think," the attacker told Marca ahead of his return to Madrid with Las Palmas.

"Although sometimes it is not good when a person says things like that. At that moment I felt like that, I did not want to disrespect the fans or my team-mates.

"I still say that Mourinho is a great coach but at that time there was no such thing as sympathy or coach-player proximity to let me know his reasoning. I never regretted that, it was what I felt. Nothing ever happened. It was unintelligible, honestly.

"We talked very little, Mourinho was closer with other players, not so much with the youth team. He joked with me from time to time, but it was more [Aitor] Karanka who was close with us, he took over more of the work."

Jese would eventually become a first-team regular under Carlo Ancelotti over the following seasons, until a serious knee injury ended his progress.

He left Madrid for PSG ahead of this season, but left the Ligue 1 champions for a loan spell with Las Palmas during the January window.