Mourinho plays down England return reports
Reuters - Friday 30 December 2011, 19:54
Real Madrid coach Jose
Mourinho tried on Friday to defuse a row caused after he told
the BBC he wanted to return to England when he eventually left
the Spanish club.
The former Chelsea boss was criticised after telling a BBC
interviewer with a laugh that he would look for a Premier League
team "in a couple of years."
Spanish commentators said a club of the stature of
nine-times European champions Real should be deciding when
Mourinho moved on, not the Portuguese.
"You don't translate 'a couple of years' literally, it's an
expression you use in the English language to mean in a few
years, not exactly two," Mourinho told the club's website.
"It could be two, three, four, 20, or you never know," added
the 48-year-old who is in his second season at Real and has a
contract that runs until 2014.
NATURAL DESTINATION
"Everyone knows I enjoyed very much being in England and
everyone knows England one day will have to be a natural
destination for me because in my career, which I hope is 20
years long or more, one day, within a few years, I'll have to
find a destination.
"Now is not the time to think about it because I am at Real
Madrid."
Mourinho's three-year spell at Chelsea ended in 2007. He
then went on to lead Inter Milan to the Champions League title
in 2010, his second success in Europe's elite club competition
following a 2004 triumph with Porto.
He was hired by Real president Florentino Perez to end
Barcelona's dominance of Spanish and European football and led the
Madrid club to a King's Cup victory over their great rivals last
season.
The Portuguese is seen by the media as a possible future
successor to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson who turns
70 on Saturday.
Mourinho also said he believed the best was still to come
from his Real squad.
"It would not be very clever if I was dedicating myself from
the first day, giving my heart to this project, and then
thinking about quitting it halfway through," he said.
"It's impossible to say how many years I will stay but what
counts is the intention.
"What is interesting is I am very content and enormously
proud to be the coach of Real Madrid and I do not see the moment
to leave and I do not want to leave," said Mourinho.
"I am 100 percent certain I will see out my contract with
Real Madrid."