Jose Mourinho reveals he could have become Portugal and England manager

Jose Mourinho has revealed he was offered the chance to manage England and Portugal during a chat with Rio Ferdinand.

Over the years, Mourinho has worked his way into becoming one of the finest managers of his generation.

Throughout his illustrious career, the Portuguese has taken charge of clubs such as Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.

Mourinho has often been linked with managing an international team, with the man himself claiming he was offered the chance to manage England.

During a chat with former United and Three Lions defender Ferdinand, Mourinho said: “I refused great working opportunities.

“The first one was even very very hard to refuse because it was Portugal.”

He continued: “I could be their coach in the national team, also yours.

“I had it there, on the table.”

At this point, Ferdinand put his hand on his face and said: “No way!”

Most recently, the 61-year-old was the manager of Italian Serie A side Roma.

Mourinho led the team to their first trophy in 14 years after taking them all the way in the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2022.

However, after a string of disappointing performances in the 23/24 season which resulted in four defeats in seven games, Mourinho was sacked by Roma last month.

A Roma statement read in full: "We would like to thank Jose on behalf of all of us at AS Roma for his passion and efforts since his arrival at the club.

"We will always have great memories of his tenure at Roma, but we believe that an immediate change is in the best interests of the club.

"We wish Jose and his assistants all the best in their future endeavours."

Since then, the 'Special One' has been linked with a move to the Saudi Professional League, as well as a return to Chelsea.