Mourinho targets June return to club management

Jose Mourinho has set his sights on a return to club management by June and says he knows exactly what kind of role he wants.

The 56-year-old has been out of management since being dismissed by Manchester United in December after a torrid start to the campaign, which left them languishing 19 points off the Premier League summit.

Mourinho – who was linked with the Real Madrid role before Zinedine Zidane’s return earlier this month – says he has turned down multiple job offers because they did not meet his specific requirements for a new position, which he intends to take up ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. 

“What I have in mind is that I would like to be back in the summer, in June, for a new club, for a new pre-season,” he told BeIN SPORTS.

“I know exactly what I don’t want. That’s the reason why I had to say already, to three or four different offers, I had to say no.

“And I know what I want, in terms of not a specific club but the nature of the job, the dimension of the job, I know what I want.”

The Portuguese insists he is enjoying his time away from day-to-day club management and believes he will be better prepared for his next role after the hiatus.

“I miss nothing at all, really,” he added. “Because in this moment I am two-and-a-half months without work and I am ‘working’, preparing myself further for the next one. It’s not like I am on holiday. It’s not like I’m bored with nothing to do.

“I’m preparing myself for the next one, and that is something that when you are working every day in football with six press conference per week, with three matches per week, with pre-match analysis, with post-match analysis, with all the problems you have day by day – sometimes you have no time to take care about yourself.

“Now I am having this month where I think I’m going to be back even better prepared.”

Mourinho also ruled out an international coaching job, citing the relentless nature of club football as too big a draw to turn down at this stage in his career.

When asked if he would take an international job next, he said: “I don’t think so. I think a national team job is a very specific job.

“I like daily football, I like daily work, I like many competitions, I like matches and I want to stay in football club level. But who knows?”