Mourinho, Portugal’s favorite on the bench

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José Mourinho heads the list of names being considered in Portugal to replace Fernando Santos as national coach, a position in which the current Roma coach has expressed his interest on several occasions.

Santos, 68, left the ‘quinas’ team on Thursday after eight years, where he won the Euro Cup in France in 2016 and the Nations League in 2019, the Portuguese absolute’s first major trophies.

His successor is now the subject of much speculation in the country, with the names most talked about by the local press being Mourinho and Rui Jorge, current Portuguese under-21 coach.

Leonardo Jardim, French champion in Monaco and currently in Saudi Al Ahli, Abel Ferreira, in Brazilian Palmeiras, or Bruno Lage, without a club after leaving English Wolves, are other names mentioned.

THE OPTIONS

But the favorite, and the one who currently occupies the most space in the Portuguese media, is José Mourinho. With a contract with Roma until 2024, there are several possibilities.

One of them is for Mourinho to take both positions at the same time, something that was already proposed by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) when the coach was coaching Real Madrid.

The Portuguese coach came to accept, but the white president, Florentino Pérez, did not allow it. On reflection, Mourinho himself admitted in a 2014 interview that “it wouldn’t be possible” and that it was “not even ethical.”

Another scenario raised by the Portuguese press is that Rui Jorge will manage the team on a temporary basis until Mourinho finishes the season at the Italian club and then negotiates his termination with the Roman emblem.

Rui Jorge has been in charge of the Portuguese Under-21 since 2011, which is why he knows the new generation of emerging or established players in the senior team, such as Gonçalo Ramos, João Félix or Rafael Leão.

As a player, Jorge was a seven-time Portuguese champion, five with Porto and twice with Sporting de Portugal.

The former left-back met at the Verdiblanco club with the now former coach, Fernando Santos, and even a young Cristiano Ronaldo, while at the ‘dragoes’ he met Mourinho, then assistant to the emblematic English coach Bobby Robson.

MOURINHO’S SILENCE

José Mourinho, who is currently training with Roma in the Algarve (south of Portugal), remains silent, although in the past he expressed his interest in coaching the national team, especially in his country.

“I want to have the experience of coaching my country one day. I want to make my family proud, and I’m sure they will be proud one day, when I become the national coach,” Mourinho declared in 2008.

In 2014 he mentioned the topic again: “I want to try to give what I have to the choice of my country.” And in 2020 he admitted that he would like to lead a team to a Euro Cup or a World Cup one day, but only at the end of his coaching career, “20 years from now.”

“Do I want to do it in Portugal? On the one hand, yes, because that’s where my heart is,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho is the most successful Portuguese coach, with a record that includes two Champions Leagues, three Premier Leagues, two Italian Leagues, one Spanish League, one UEFA Cup and one Europa League, among many other titles.

Successes obtained in clubs such as Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.

Source: La Verdad

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