Former Roma boss Jose Mourinho insisted he’s ready to start over following his January exit from the Italian capital.
Two months since his departure, the Special One conveyed his eagerness to return to coaching, hoping to land at a new club by the summer before the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
“I’m ready to get started again, sometimes when you end at a club you feel the need to rest, to have a think and process things,” he told Fabrizio Romano.
“In this case, just one day after I left [Roma] I was ready to go again. I feel good, I feel strong, I love the work—so I’m ready but I don’t want to make the wrong choice. I just can’t accept something because of the feeling or the passion of wanting to be back, I’ve got to be patient.”
“But my objective is to start next summer, I’m ready.”
He continued, “When people talk about me, it’s like I didn’t recently go to two European finals. They discuss me in terms of eight or ten years ago. This is true with so many great coaches in Europe and normally the great coaches are coaching the best teams with more possibilities to get into finals.”
“In the last few years, I’ve been to three finals, one with Manchester United and two with Roma. If we just focus on the past two years, I’m the only one with two European finals.”
“When I hear this, I look at it with a bit of fun but also some pride because when you reflect on it: it was done at a club without much history in Europe. I won’t play in one this year, but hopefully next season I can say I’m the only one to make it to three European finals over the past four years.”
Finally, he addressed whether or not he regretted rebuffing offers on two different occasions to become the manager of Portugal’s national team.
“I’ve had two occasions where the door was open [to become Portugal’s coach]. The first was when I was in Real Madrid with the objective to coach Portugal on the part time basis,” Mourinho revealed.
“But I realised [it wouldn’t happen] once the president Florentino told me it’s not possible, it’s easier to accept. Do I regret not accepting it the second time because I was sacked just months later by Roma? No, I’m happy with the reason I didn’t accept [the offer].”
