Jose Mourinho is wanted by the Portuguese football association to replace Fernando Santos as manager of the Portuguese national side.
As reported by gazzetta.it, the Portuguese FA have put Mourinho at the top of their list to succeed the outgoing Santos.
Santos is set to leave his post as national team manager after Portugal’s World Cup dream ended at the quarter-final stage, at the hands of Morocco.
The surprise defeat came after arguably the performance of the tournament by any team in the previous round, with Portugal looking firmly like contenders on the back of dismantling Switzerland by six goals to one.
However, it wasn’t meant to be for Portugal and Santos, whose time as head coach now appears to have come to an end.
Santos will depart having delivered Portugal’s first and only international trophy, after winning the Euros in 2016.
Now eyes have turned to the most successful Portuguese club manager of all time – ex-United boss, Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho is currently managing in Italy, with his Roma side sitting seventh in the table but just six points off second place in what is a competitive Serie A.
The Roma boss has long since been tipped for a stint in international football having been chased by the English FA to take charge of England on a few occasions in previous years.
Since his treble achievements at Inter Milan, Mourinho’s powers at club level have appeared to be on the wane, with a new wave of high intensity, high energy, pressing football taking over at the top level of European football.
However, Mourinho’s hard to beat, organised and pragmatic style looks perfectly suited to international football, which is generally played at a pace more suited to Mourinho’s philosophy.
This, coupled with his unique man management style and ability to affect one-off games, on and off the pitch look to make him the ideal candidate to take this talented Portuguese side into the 2024 European Championships.
