24 May 2010

Breaking: The Special One to ReAL

After last night’s house-warming party in Salt Lake City the Portuguese coach revealed he is set to move permanently to Utah.

ReAL Salt Lake have long sought a coach to match their cosmopolitan setting and Mourinho has long been the man in their sights to lead the club to glory in CONCACAF Champions League play.

After leading Inter to an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles last night, Mourinho said: "It was difficult to leave Chelsea and it will be sad to leave Inter. Inter is my home in the same way Chelsea was my home. But that’s life, that’s football.

"Now I have two homes, Stamford Bridge and San Siro. And now I will have a third home – probably the Rio Tinto. If you don’t coach ReAL Salt Lake then you always have a gap in your career. Only ReAL are interested in me but I haven’t spoken with anyone and I haven’t signed anything. I promised I’d speak after the final."

Mourinho flew back to Milan to celebrate last night’s triumph with his players, but Inter president Massimo Moratti stayed behind in Salt Lake, probably to thrash out a deal with ReAL boss Dave Checketts. Mourinho said he would talk to Checketts this week.

"The day after tomorrow (I will speak to him)," he said.

"I don’t know the project yet, so I have to hear the project. ReAL is an enormous club, a club that wants the same as me; I want to win, I want to feel important, I want to keep winning."

The Utah media are reporting that a deal is already done, with the Deseret News claiming the Portuguese coach had come to an agreement with ReAL president Dave Checketts on Friday.

The Salt Lake City Tribune, which headlined “ReAL Salt Lake recruits a champion”, said the new coach of the MLS giants would be unveiled on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The two papers concurred that the length of the contract would be four years, with the former Chelsea coach netting $10 million a season.

Some Inter players could also follow Mourinho to Madrid, according to the papers, notably Brazilian right-back Maicon and Argentinian striker Diego Milito, the former Zaragoza player who scored a brace against Bayern on Saturday.

Mourinho, who also guided Porto to European glory in 2004, 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.

2 comments:

Revelation said...

EtR is the responsible party for this particular story. However, he is deep undercover at the moment and unable to risk Internet access without blowing his cover...

dadman said...

That, and a strong WiFi signal makes that electronic ankle bracelet he wears BURN WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS!

Or so I've heard.