Despite his well-known reputation as the esteemed ‘Special One’, Jose Mourinho has yet to have the chance to coach his home country’s national team, Portugal. Interestingly, the Portuguese manager recently revealed that he was offered the opportunity to lead Portugal while he was at another club, but he respectfully declined.
The professional relationship between Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo was most evident between 2010 and 2013 when Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid. Unfortunately, this partnership came to an end after this successful period, during which they won three prestigious trophies.
After leaving Roma, Jose Mourinho had an insightful interview with soccer legend Rio Ferdinand, where they discussed Mourinho’s time at Manchester United. During the conversation, Mourinho made a surprising revelation, stating, “I turned down some great job offers. The first one was extremely difficult to refuse because it was Portugal. Portugal, with possibly the best national team ever, three years before the World Cup.”
Expanding on this revelation, the former Roma coach added, “I could have been their coach for the national team. And yours too, [pointing at Rio]. I had the offer on the table.” Mourinho then explained why he chose to pass on the opportunity to coach Cristiano Ronaldo, admitting, “I didn’t do it because I had given everything. I had given my heart. I even made choices that may not have been seen as very clever from a professional perspective.”
During his time at Manchester United, Mourinho’s focus was solely on the club, which is why he declined the chance to coach Portugal. However, this was not the only occasion where he turned down an offer from Portugal. He also did so while he was managing AS Roma.
After Portugal’s unfortunate exit from the 2022 World Cup, the search for a new national team manager began. Among the many contenders, one prominent candidate emerged – ‘The Special One’. In a previous interview, Jose Mourinho stated, “I told my agent not to speak to anyone as long as I’m the AS Roma manager.”
He also hinted that communication regarding his availability reached AS Roma directly from clubs in England and Saudi Arabia. Currently, Mourinho is not managing any team, which could be the perfect opportunity for Portugal to pursue their goal of bringing him into their ranks.
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According to the Source essentiallysports.com