Jose Mourinho and Zidane were never a real option for the USMNT
The US Soccer federation will most likely not extend Gregg Berhalter’s contract and they are in search for his replacement, according to reports,
It was reported that the US Soccer made a formal offer to Zinedine Zidane to take over the United States men’s national team job, but the French manager politely declined. Then it was reported that the next man on the list was Jose Mourinho and the Portuguese manager was interested in taking the job.
Just options no offers for USMNT
According to AS USA, the US Soccer federation has a long list of candidates, but the real options are just a few to start the new World Cup cycle. Per report, Zidane and Mourinho were never formally offered the job because the United States can’t afford their high salary and they are simply not interested in taking over the team.
Zidane has made it clear that the only national team he is willing to coach is France and he will wait until Didier Deschamps contract expires in 2026. On the other hand, Jose Mourinho is under contract with AS Roma until the summer of 2024 and he even rejected the formal offer to manage Portugal following the World Cup because he is happy with the Serie A side.
The US Soccer federation is aware that they could never afford world-class managers like Zinedine Zidane or Jose Mourinho. The French boss, who is a free agent, had a basic annual salary of 12 million euros (a euro is worth about a dollar at the moment) at Real Madrid and the Portuguese head coach earns $7.9 million per season at Roma. So the United States could never match that price and that’s why they were never formally approached.
While Gregg Berhalter earned nearly $1.3 million per year, the highest in the entire organization, so there is a limit of how much the US Soccer federation can offer a manager to take over the job. Meaning that head coaches like Zidane and Mourinho might be on the list, but they are never a realistic option to manage the USMNT.