With Roma manager Jose Mourinho securing a sixth place finish in the 2021/22 Italian Serie A campaign, the club tasted far greater success in the inaugural Europa Conference League competition, securing a hard fought 1-0 victory over Dutch Eredivisie side Feyenoord courtesy of Nicola Zaniolo’s 32nd minute opener to win the club’s first major European trophy.
It was a solid end to ‘The Special One’s’ first season in charge of the club and it was also a special moment for Mourinho at the final whistle as he now boasts a clean sweep of European success having lifted the Champions League, Europa League and the UEFA Cup—he becomes the first manager to win all of UEFA’s major European trophies, and on top of that he has a perfect record across the competitions, reaching five finals and taking five wins and for fans who like flutter you would probably get good odds from the Bet365 app on him making it six from six in the next few years.
“This is a competition we believed we could win since the start. I knew the moment I arrived what it meant to the people. They had been waiting for something like this. This was not work tonight, this was history. We had to write history. We wrote it.”
With that moment of history secured, Mourinho and Roma are already working hard behind the scenes looking to build on that success in the 2022/23 campaign and it seems incredibly likely that another familiar face will enter the club shortly, as Roma have been heavily linked with former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic.
Mourinho has long been an admirer of the 33 year-old Serbian international having worked with him previously at both Chelsea and Old Trafford and it has now been reported that Matic has a ‘full agreement’ with Roma to officially join them when he becomes a free agent at the end of his current contract later this month.
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has claimed that both parties have struck agreement on an initial 12 month deal, which also includes an option to extend it to two years in total if the move works out, and he reports that with contract specifics already now agreed, the required medical and formalities will take place in July.
Writing on Twitter, he explained.
“AS Roma are already planning for Nemanja Matic’s medical tests, probably in July. Full agreement reached on a one-year deal, contract until June 2023 to be signed soon. The deal will include an option to extend the contract for further season.”
Given both of their history together and the praise that Mourinho has previously sent in Matic’s direction – calling him a ‘Jose Mourinho player’ when he made the switch from Chelsea to Old Trafford back in 2017 – the move does not come as a great surprise to anyone in the world of football, in fact, plenty had already predicted it when it was clear that Matic would be leaving The Red Devil’s at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
“Nemanja is a Manchester United player and a Jose Mourinho player. He represents everything we want in a footballer – loyalty, consistency, ambition, team player. I would like to thank him for his desire to join us because without that, it would be impossible to have him here.”
Roma fans can expect similar words of endearment when the deal becomes official ahead of the coming campaign.
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