Benfica to meet with Mourinho in coming days
Portuguese daily A Bola reports that Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira will meet Jose Mourinho to discuss the vacancy at the Portuguese club.
Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira will meet with Jose Mourinho in the coming days to discuss the ex-Manchester United coach’s conditions to take charge at the club, according to Portuguese daily A Bola.
Earlier this week Vieira publically stated that "money is no issue" in the club’s bid to hire Mourinho to replace the recently ousted coach Rui Vitoría.
“Who would not like to have Mourinho? If he says yes tomorrow, he’ll be here at the drop of a hat,” Vieira told Portuguese broadcaster SIC.
A Bola reports that the Benfica president knows that convincing a coach with such an impressive CV as Mourinho’s will not be easy, particularly as a number of other bigger clubs could be interested in signing him – amongst them Real Madrid, who in recent days have been linked with the Portuguese coach once again.
Rui Vitoría sacked
Last week, Benfica sacked coach Rui Vitoría after three and a half seasons at the club, during which he won two league titles, one cup title, two Portuguese super cups and one league cup.
Despite these honours, the club decided to terminate Vitoría’s contract following some poor results this season that have left Benfica in third place and seven points behind leaders Porto after 16 games.
His potential replacement, Mourinho was also recently sacked by Manchester United after overseeing one of the Red Devils’ worst-ever starts to a season and an apparent fallout with some of the leading figures in the Old Trafford dressing room, including Paul Pogba.
Mourinho career
A move to Benfica would see Mourinho return to his home country where his managerial career began in 1990. After assistant coaching stints at several Portuguese clubs – as well three years in that role at Barcelona from 1996 to 1999 – Mourinho became head coach at Porto in 2002, and was thrown into the spotlight of the footballing world when, at 41 years old, he led the Portuguese club to an unlikely Champions League title in 2004.
That marked the beginning of an illustrious career, during which he has managed Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United, and became the only manager in history to win three Champions League titles with three different clubs (Porto, Inter and Chelsea).
His final months at Manchester United, however, have put a blotch on an almost impeccable career to date, something which Mourinho will be eager to rectify at whatever club he decides to go to next.
