Mourinho is sent to the national team – Portugal or Brazil. And how does Jose himself look at it?

One of the hottest topics after the end of the 2022 World Cup is where Jose Mourinho will end up.

Reliable insider Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Jose is the main candidate for the position of coach of the Portuguese national team. Corriere dello Sport writes that Mourinho is seriously considering moving away from club football and switching to internationals. The newspaper Record writes that Portuguese officials have already talked about this issue with the coach himself.

The Portuguese Football Federation plans to have Mourinho in charge of the national team before the start of the qualifiers for the upcoming Euro. If nothing works with Jose, then the national team will be given to the former Spartak coach Ruy Vitoria or Ruy Jorge, who coaches the youth team.

The option with Mourinho is an absolute priority.

“Mourinho is perfect. Given all that he has achieved and continues to achieve. He was in the best clubs in the world, won trophies in each of them. The only thing missing in his career is the national team, – says the former midfielder of the national team Manishe. – He is experienced as a coach and prepared for any difficulties as a person.

Mourinho knows everything about football. Jose is smart and works well with young people. What can get in the way? He has every chance of getting this place. Everyone will be happy.”

Jose does not want to combine the club and the national team. Roma are also against

Record notes that at the moment the situation remains as complicated as possible. The reason is simple – Roma do not want to give up a precious coach for a combination, and Mourinho himself is not ready to work on two fronts. Jose’s contract also runs until 2024.

There is a way out of the situation. If the coach and Roma agree to the offer, Rui Jorge will take over until the summer. In the course of the current season, Mourinho will definitely not lead the team – he will have to break the club contract, but Jose does not want to leave the team and maintains excellent relations with the leadership of the Romans.

Roma Press, citing Corriere dello Sport, assures that the coach’s agent, Jorge Mendes, met with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation, Fernando Gomes, and held the first negotiations. But so far nothing concrete has been achieved between the parties.

Another powerful obstacle is the Brazilian national team. The Portuguese are not the only ones who want to take Mourinho with them. La Repubblica writes that representatives of the Brazilian Football Confederation contacted him. They want to send an intermediary to negotiate – a specific person will have to convince José to agree to become the coach of the Brazilian national team.

“There are many amazing coaches who could be of great benefit to the national team,” said Ronaldo. – Carlo Ancelotti, Abel Ferreira and José Mourinho are all amazing specialists with their own style. But everyone has valid contracts. I don’t know what the federation wants to do, but my opinion is that it will make a choice in favor of a foreigner.”

Brazil wants a response from the 59-year-old by the end of January. José is looking at this option as well, but prioritizes Portugal. Although he had doubts before: “I want to coach the national team. I want to get experience and emotions from a short competition,” the coach said with a smile in September 2020.

But with Portugal? On the one hand, the answer is obvious. This country is my heart. But if you look differently, it is very difficult to do this with the country in which you were born. It’s an incredible pressure, it can’t be compared to matches at the club level. Am I ready for this? Don’t know. Do I want it? It looks like yes. I think that the time of the teams in my life will come.”

Mourinho could have been in charge of England in 2007. I’m sorry, what?

Jose told The Guardian this story back in July 2014:

“At that time I was not offered a job in England for a long time. Imagine, I couldn’t get an English club for two whole years. But I was offered a place in the England team. But my wife asked me not to accept this offer.

After so many years, you can say that she was right. This is the right decision. I couldn’t wait two years before a big competition. I couldn’t spend two years playing with Kazakhstan and San Marino. But everything turned out well, so there is nothing to complain about.