New Roma coach Jose Mourinho admits he’s been offered major national team jobs.
Mourinho says he was offered both the England and Portugal posts during his career.
He told The Sun: “England when I left Chelsea, but I realised that it was too early for me.
“Portugal when I was in Real Madrid. It was a crazy bid for a part-time job.
“It’s the kind of job I think I’ll enjoy later.”
Former Juventus and Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira has paid tribute to Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho will be in charge of Roma next season.
“Spain had just eliminated us from the World Cup in South Africa and we were all very sad,” he said. “That generation deserved a Final.
“Suddenly, I received a call: ‘Sami, Real want you and Mourinho will call you’.
“I thought it was a joke. I was very nervous and my main concern was my English, because I didn’t speak it at the time. So, Mourinho called me and I asked him if we could talk by text messages. He laughed and said it was fine.
“He told me he wanted me at Real and that conversation changed my career. Mourinho is the best thing that has happened to me.”
Didier Deschamps has played down Jose Mourinho lauding France as favourites for Euro 2020.
Les Bleus manager Deschamps is working hard to temper expectations of his star studded squad.
Asked about Mourinho’s comments, Deschamps said: “José … I thought the same thing about his Tottenham team, it did not go as planned (laughs).
“Automatically, with the status of world champions, we are favourites, with three more years of experience. I have a very important offensive potential. But it’s not just that.
“You talk about balance but I don’t disconnect them from our midfield too. We will do everything to have the ball as much as possible but there will be times when we will not have the ball.
“It is not a pressure, it is a reality, we will not run away from the debate: France is one of the favourites for this Euro.”
Former Brazil international Adriano admits his Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho was determined to get rid of him.
The pair worked together for one season, winning the Scudetto, before Adriano left.
“Mourinho saw once that I was down and asked me to train separately,” Adriano recalled in an interview with ESPN.
“I spent two weeks doing that and then I came back into the group.
“One Thursday I learned that I would be called up for the next match, but then the next day that wasn’t the case and I got angry.
“There was a trip to Rome once and I wasn’t included.
“I spoke with Javier Zanetti and Ivan Cordoba, thinking already that I would be leaving (in the summer).
“All the players came to my house after that to ask me to stay, but I knew I couldn’t stay because he (Mourinho) would have got involved.”
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka says he is proud to have attracted admiring glances from Jose Mourinho amid Roma’s interest in trying to sign him.
The Swiss international has just two years left on his contract and there have been no negotiations with the Gunners over a new deal.
With Roma showing serious interest in him at the behest of Mourinho, Xhaka is flattered and interested in working under the Portuguese coach.
“Of course I read [about the interest]. But now I’m one 100 per cent focused on the national team here,” the 28-year-old told Blick as he prepares to compete at Euro 2020 with Switzerland.
“That’s more important than Arsenal or rumours right now. I have another two years on my contract in London and Arsenal they know what they have in me. When the time comes to talk about a transfer, I’ll be here.”
He added: “To be honest, I didn’t hear what Mourinho has said about me. But that makes you proud. Everyone knows Mourinho, knows what he has achieved. Mourinho knows how to win titles.
“You can now see what work I have done over the past few years.”
Incoming Roma coach Jose Mourinho has sensationally put in a direct call to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo is unsettled at Juventus and weighing up his future in Turin.
With a year to run on his contract, Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has been sounding out interested clubs across Europe, including former teams Manchester United and Real Madrid, along with PSG.
La Stampa says Mourinho is also keen and called Ronaldo to quiz him about his plans. The new Roma coach wanted to know exactly Ronaldo’s current thoughts.
Ronaldo has been informed he would not have to take pay-cut should he switch to Roma this summer.
However for the moment, the Juve striker’s favoured option is a return to United, according to the Turin newspaper.
Roma coach Jose Mourinho is pushing to bring Real Madrid attacker Eden Hazard to Italy.
Mourinho wants a reunion with his former Chelsea star this summer.
Deportes Cuatro says Mourinho is plotting an audacious swoop for the 30-year-old.
Hazard moved to Real back in 2019 for £130million but has been a huge disappointment in the Spanish capital.
Over two years, he’s scored just five times and Real are understood to be running out of patience with him.
Some reports suggest that the club would be willing to allow him to leave for free, to allow the absence of his wage to free up some space financially.
Fabio Capello has taken a swipe at former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Capello took aim at Ferguson while defending Jose Mourinho over his move to AS Roma.
“I have always been a Mourinho supporter. He has clear ideas, creates a team spirit and is able to drag everything out of the players. He has the result in his mind,” Capello told Corriere dello Sport.
“Roma are a very difficult club to work in, and I know that too well, so I can only wish Mourinho all the best. And that’s all I’ll say.
“Inzaghi has been at Lazio for five years and I think after that amount of time, a coach can no longer truly impart anything significant to his players.
“Let’s just put to one side the stories of England and Ferguson. The truth is that Ferguson didn’t coach that team, he just went to watch training sessions a couple of times a week and left everything else in the hands of his staff.
“Then he would arrive, talk, decide and they’d follow him. He was completely isolated from the everyday work of the training ground, though.
“The same goes for Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. In Italy, the way you coach a team is completely different and after five years, a coach has very little left to say.”
Tottenham striker Harry Kane has questioned the maturity of his teammates in their approach to former manager Jose Mourinho.
Kane admits Mourinho expected his players to be “professional” and “be men”, demands which some struggled to handle.
Discussing Mourinho and former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino, Kane told The Overlap YouTube channel: “It was pretty much completely different if I’m honest.
“Just in the style of play, the way they set up, tactical training we would do.
“Obviously Mauricio we do a lot of gym work, it was a lot gym base whereas Jose wasn’t so much into that but Jose obviously expected us to be men and act like men on the pitch, have leaders on the pitch.
“To be honest, that’s probably where it didn’t quite work out with Jose we didn’t quite have enough leadership that we needed at the time. Obviously the club was in a difficult stage, with Mauricio getting sacked it’s never easy a new manager coming in.
Former Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho insists he does not let outside noise affect his managerial decisions as he prepares to take over at AS Roma.
Mourinho was sacked at Spurs last month after a poor second half of the season, but he was out of work for just 15 days.
He was appointed head coach of Serie A side Roma in a role which would start next season.
The end of his stint at Tottenham had all the hallmarks of a typical Mourinho exit.
He publicly criticised players, alienated fans with his style of play and picked fights with the media.
In spite of that, Mourinho says he is only focused on what goes on in the club.
“We don’t let outside influences affect what we do inside,” he said.
“Pressure is always there in football. So, we focus on the basics and our preparation and we keep the environment fun but committed and professional.
“For me, every game has a pressure because they all mean different things.
“There is pressure with a derby, a semi-final to make the final, a final to win the trophy, and three points to progress up the table and not lose your position.”
During his troubles at the English Premier League (EPL) club, Mourinho said he thrived on the pressure he applies to himself.
“It comes down to preparation,” he said. “It’s important to always be prepared for all eventualities, because, in this way, you can adapt to pressure moments by relying on your preparation and your repetition.
“When making big decisions, I make sure I have all the information I need to hand.
“This is the top ‘tactic’ because it is impossible to make any decisions without knowing all the details and taking time to understand them.”