Five Possible Destinations for Jose Mourinho
By Ryan Wrenn
5. The Chinese Super League
While this definitely won’t be happening, after the last two weeks it’s suddenly a lot harder to be quite as emphatic about making that assertion.
Teams in the Chinese Super League have spent over £100 million on actually good and recognizable players across some of Europe’s best leagues since the beginning of the year, including Ramires from Chelsea and Jackson Martínez from Atlético Madrid. Given that surprising rise into actual relevance, it’s not a terrible stretch to think that the powers that be in Chinese football might try to acquire some top managerial talent as well. Former Chelsea and Brazil head coach Luis Felipe Scolari is already at reigning Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande, and more managers will inevitably follow.
All of that being said, it doesn’t appear likely that Mourinho is about to call time on his career in Europe. One failure –if indeed that’s what you could call whatever happened at Chelsea– isn’t going to suddenly mean he’s going to start following money over glory. He’s won four league titles in as many countries along with two Champions League trophies. And he’s still only 53. There is still much to do, even if his reputation has taken something of a beating recently.
Mourinho doesn’t mind people thinking that he might give up on Europe, though. He and his agent spent some time visiting Chinese soccer boosters Alisports in January. It’s rumored that they were set on offering Mourinho something of a consultancy role to help modernize Chinese football. No word yet on what his decision will be.
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