José Mourinho heads the list of names being considered in Portugal to succeed Fernando Santos as national coach, a position for which the current Roma coach has expressed his interest on several occasions. Santos, 68, left the clubs this Thursday after eight years, in which he won the Euro Cup in France in 2016 and the Nations League in 2019, the first absolute trophies in Portugal.
His successor is now the subject of much speculation in the country, where the names most talked about by the local press are Mourinho and Rui Jorge, current coach of the Portuguese sub-21. Leonardo Jardim, French champion with Monaco and currently at Saudi Al Ahli, Abel Ferreira, at Brazilian Palmeiras, or Bruno Lage, without a club after leaving English Wolverhampton, are other names mentioned.
But the favourite, and the one that currently occupies the most space in the Portuguese media, is José Mourinho. With a contract with Roma until 2024, there are several possibilities. One of them would be to assume both positions at the same time, something that the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) already proposed when Mourinho was coaching Real Madrid.
The Portuguese coach came to accept, but the white president, Florentino Pérez, did not authorize it. Upon reflection, Mourinho himself admitted in a 2014 interview that "it wouldn't be possible" and that it "isn't even ethical."
Another scenario raised by the Portuguese press is that Rui Jorge will take charge of the team on an interim basis until Mourinho ends the season at the Italian club and then negotiate his termination with the Roman emblem. Rui Jorge has been in charge of the Portuguese under-21 since 2011, so he knows the new generation of emerging players or already consolidated in the absolute, such as Gonçalo Ramos, João Félix or Rafael Leão.
As a player, Jorge was a seven-time Portuguese champion, five with Porto and twice with Sporting de Portugal. The former left back met the now ex-selector, Fernando Santos, and even a young Cristiano Ronaldo at the Verdiblanco club, while at the "dragons" he met Mourinho, then assistant to the emblematic English coach Bobby Robson.
José Mourinho, who is currently training with Roma in the Algarve (south of Portugal), remains silent, although in the past he expressed his interest in coaching a national team, especially his country's. "I want to have the experience of coaching my country one day. I would like to make my family proud, and I am sure they will be very proud one day, when I become a national coach," he declared in 2008.
In 2014 he mentioned the subject again: "I want to try to give what I have to the selection of my country." And in 2020 he admitted that he would like to lead a team in a Euro Cup or a World Cup one day, but only at the end of his coaching career, "20 years from now." "Would I like to do it with Portugal? On the one hand, yes, because that is where my heart is," he said.
Mourinho is the most successful Portuguese coach, with a record that includes two Champions Leagues, three English Leagues, two Italian Leagues, one Spanish League, one UEFA Cup and one Europa League, among many other titles. Achievements obtained in clubs such as Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.
