Plan A didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean that the plan B is not existing. In fact, its been put in motion as we speak: The Portuguese Football Association hasn’t given up on Jose Mourinho and will meet him in person before Christmas. Roma coach is under ‘pressure’ from his homeland to take over the national selection after the departure of Fernando Santos. The Portuguese were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, as they lost 1-0 to Morocco, and even thou hardly anybody expected them to reach finals, the Atlas Lions were seen as a favorable opponent. In the end, it was Santos who had to pay for the failure and all eyes immediately turned to Mourinho. 🇵🇹🔜 Portugal’s main candidate for the managerial role is José Mourinho. In the last few hours they are insisting on convincing the Roma coach to join, reports @DiMarzio. pic.twitter.com/zNG0CC6CZS— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) December 21, 2022 But, former Chelsea, Real and Manchester coach has a valid three-year contract with AS Roma, signed in 2021. Also, he is one of the best paid coaches in the world, but it seems that the Portuguese federation could make the sacrifice in order to lure him back to the country. The plan A was to make an offer to both Jose and Roma and propose them an option in which Mourinho could be both Roma’s and Portugal’s coach. But the Giallorossi turned the offer down immediately. That leaves the Portuguese with the option B – to approach Mourinho directly and that’s what they will do.A message from Roma: Mourinho cannot sit on two chairsJose is currently in Portugal with Roma and while the team is coming back to Italy, he will stay to spend Christmas with his family and will return to Italy on December 26th. And Fernando Gomes, the president of the Football Association will meet with Mourinho during the next four days, trying to persuade him to take over the national team. Reports from Portuguese A bola is that they will offer him an option to remain in Rome until June 2022 and then switch over to the national team. In that case, they would install current Portugal Under-21 boss Rui Jorge as caretaker manager until July.##NAJAVA_MECA_6899954##Mourinho is known for his relative short stints with clubs, as he stayed in Chelsea and Real three year each, and in June 202, he would be in his second year with Roma. Jose talked about taking over Portugal before, but had some doubts.”Yes, I want to coach a national team, I want to have the experience of a World Cup and European Championship, the emotion of the short competition. Is Portugal the one I want do do? On one side yes as it is my heart. But it is very difficult to do it with the country you were born in” said Mourinho back in 2020, when he still coached Tottenham. Will he change his mind now?
