Jose Mourinho remains one of the most highly sought after managers in world football – even after his abrupt departure from Roma earlier this year.
‘The Special One’ is one of the most highly decorated managers of all time and has won major trophies as manager of Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.
But he is now out of work after being sacked as Roma manager at the start of 2024 and continues to be linked with a whole host of big jobs around the world – not least Manchester United and Newcastle United in recent months.
Mourinho turned down Portugal job and Saudi move
Opening up on his departure from the Italian capital, Mourinho has revealed he turned down the chance to manage the Portugal national team while still in charge at Roma.
He also turned down a job in the Saudi Pro League, and the Portuguese coach feels it was the first time he allowed himself to think too emotionally and not pragmatically during his career and decision making.
“I would say it is the one that hurt me more,” Mourinho told Vibe With Five when asked about his Roma departure.
Topic starts at 2:20
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“People will ask why but it is because I gave everything. I gave my heart. I gave even some options that could be considered not very clever by a professional point of view.
“I refused a few very great working opportunities. The first one was very hard to refuse because it was Portugal, with probably our best national team ever three years before a World Cup.
“I also had one from Saudi. I didn’t hide it at the time because it was really big and I did it for the first time but normally I am pragmatic in my choices.
“I try to be emotionally controlled. You could see that when I left other clubs after winning finals but in this case I was not pragmatic, I was emotional and I gave everything.
“In then end, I left hurt. I had the great feeling that I gave so much happiness to the people because two European finals in a row doesn’t happen often at a club like Roma without a history of European success.
“Then I was walking through the streets and the people saying: ‘Take us to Dublin, take us to Dublin,’ for a third European final in a row so I had that in my mind.
“But then you have to respect the owner is the owner and you have to respect the decision.”
