Jose Mourinho’s time as Inter coach is over said the Champions League winners’ president Massimo Moratti after having dined with him on Monday according to the Ansa news agency.
Moratti said that the 47-year-old Portuguese’s attitude indicated he had already made his mind up to leave and take over at Spanish giants Real Madrid, who despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on star players last summer ended up without a trophy.
Mourinho is seen as the obvious coach to turn to to deliver silverware, having become the youngest coach to win the Champions League twice — he also won it with Porto in 2004 — and guiding Inter to an unprecedented treble for an Italian club of the Champions League, the league title and the Italian Cup.
PHOTO: AFP
“I believe yes,” said Moratti responding to a question as to whether he thought Mourinho’s work was finished at Inter.
“His attitude was that of somebody who believes he is going to Real Madrid,” added Moratti, who said it had been an interesting discussion.
Mourinho’s agent held talks with Real Madrid bosses in the Spanish capital on Monday over the Portuguese coach’s possible move to the club from Inter.
The agent, Jorge Mendes, who also represents Real’s Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, held talks for about 90 minutes with the club’s director general Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza.
Spanish sports dailies AS and Marca, reported on Sunday that Mourinho will sign a four-year deal with Real Madrid worth 10 million euros (US$12.5 million) a year.
The stumbling block to the deal remains the talks with Inter, who are demanding 16 million euros to let him leave the Italian side, they said.
His current contract with Inter was to expire in 2012, but he has on several occasions expressed his dislike for Italian football.
Mourinho told Portuguese television station TVI on Sunday that the deal is almost a certainty, but he wants to meet with Real officials first to get a clear understanding of what his role at the club would be.
“Things are practically ironed out. I want to meet the people, feel the pulse, know exactly what they want from me and the conditions, not the structures, because these I already know, to avoid any doubts when I begin my work,” he said.
Mourinho, who won the Premier League with Chelsea after leaving Porto, also had a warning for Real’s squad — which is loaded with stars such as Kaka and Gonzalo Higuain, in addition to Ronaldo.
“The stars now are Inter, they are the European champions. My message to the players of Real, if I come to coach them, is that they are not stars. The star is not the coach, the star is the team,” he said. “If they all accept this like when I was at Porto, Chelsea or Inter, the victories will come.”
Mourinho, who has not lost a home match for the past seven seasons, follows Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld as a member of the select band of coaches to have won the Champions League with two different clubs.
The Portuguese, who joined Inter two years ago, has also won two Serie A titles and an Italian Cup.
Speaking after the Champions League final, he acknowledged having his eye on making history by becoming the only coach to win the Champions League with three different clubs.
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