Getty Former Spurs manager Jose Mourinho heads back to Italy
It took very little time for Jose Mourinho to get a job after he was relieved of his duties over at Spurs, eight days to be exact. On Tuesday, Roma shockes the football world by announcing the hiring of the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss starting next season.
This news came shortly after the club confirmed that their actual coach,Paulo Fonseca would be leaving the Giallorossi at the end of this season. It was quite evident the club’s brass were moving quickly on securing the services of the 58-year-old before eventually making the decision official and giving him a warm welcome via social media.
“Thank you to the Friedkin family for choosing me to lead this great club and to be part of their vision,” Mourinho said in the official statement posted on club’s website.
𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 🤝
The club are delighted to announce an agreement has been reached with Jose Mourinho for him to become our new head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season.
#ASRoma pic.twitter.com/f5YGGIVFJp— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) May 4, 2021
The Portuguese coach signed a contract for three seasons, surprising even the Italian press. That country’s largest sports daily, Gazzetta Dello Sport started out their report stating that this hiring was a “surprise move” as no media outlet had this story until it actually was announced by the club via their official platforms.
After the announcement the coach said, “After meetings with the ownership and Tiago Pinto, I immediately understood the full extent of their ambitions for AS Roma. It is the same ambition and drive that has always motivated me and together we want to build a winning project over the upcoming years.
“The incredible passion of the Roma fans convinced me to accept the job and I cannot wait to start next season,” he added.
Roma’s actuality
Roma have come off a brutal week in which they lost 2-0 to Sampdoria this past weekend. They were also decimated by Manchester United, ironically the team Mourinho led to a Europa League title, by a lopsided 6-2 in the first leg of the semifinals of said competition. With Roma, Mourinho would have already managed 11 different stops in his coaching career.
His return to Italy
Mourinho always had a soft spot for Italy as it was a place where he felt most comfortable, according to him. His experience at Inter was probably the greatest achievement he had in his career, although one can argue that the longevity there (or the lack thereof) would not give him that distinction.
That said, his impact with that Inter side was undeniable. During his time at the neroazzurri won two Scudetti, a Champions League, a Coppa Italia and an Italian Supercoppa. In his second season with Inter, he made history as they become the first Italian team to ever win the treble.
After that season, Mourinho headed to Real Madrid, where he spent four season and won a league title as well as a Copa del Rey.
He also mentioned on various occasions that the “Italian media are the best”. His justification was that they stuck to tactics and “talking football” instead of the other things that were discussed in England and Spain.
His time in England
Like his stops at Chelsea and Manchester United, they all ended with eroded relationships between him, the boards and some players. That was also the case with his last job at Spurs.
Mourinho left a squad broken after falling in inexpilcable fashion in the Europa League while seeing their Premier League dreams fall by the wayside with every passing match.
There were players like Dele Alli that fell drastically and were not able to ever find an inkling of their previous form that they had found while Mauricio Pochettino was the manager prior to that.
Spurs find themselves in sixth place with 56 points, two off the pace from Champions qualifier spots.
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