Jose Mourinho has claimed that the Roma job has reignited his passion for football after leaving Tottenham Hotspur towards the end of last season.
The Special One was sacked from his position as Spurs head coach in late April just six days before a Carabao Cup Final against Man City.
Mourinho had endured a tough season in North London despite leading the Premier League table in November and looking like a force to be reckoned with.
In his latest interview, the Portuguese manager has opened up on mistakes he has made in his career, the new types of projects he has taken on and how quickly he was offered the Roma role.
In fact, he revealed that Roma called him the afternoon of the day he was sacked by Daniel Levy and co at Tottenham. He also hinted that he has been misled about some projects in the past, but did not name Spurs.
On Roma, he said (GQ): “They really wanted me.
“It was almost instantly, me leaving Tottenham in the morning and Roma calling me in the afternoon. They wanted me a lot and were objective.
“Something I had already felt throughout my years in Italy was the Italian passion when it comes to football, specifically around Roma, a club that has won no trophies in 20 years.
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“These are new owners, who have a very humble approach in a way that they recognised this was a new chapter in their amazing professional lives, a chapter in which they needed help from someone with a broad experience.
“They were very honest and straightforward, and I immediately felt this passion I have for my work. So I didn’t have to think too much about it, because they really touched me with their approach. I really liked it.”
On his past projects, he added: “I make mistakes sometimes, I haven’t always chosen the right project, or I may have been misled about the path of some projects.
“I’ve made mistakes or I’ve been led in a dishonest way into accepting what I shouldn’t have, but in the end, it’s all the same.
“These aren’t my words, they were said by someone who was much more important than me: Whoever has goals and drive, will never grow older.’
“I still can’t believe that I have 30 years of experience in professional football, or that I am 58 years old, because I am always renewing my motivation.
“Lately I’ve been having very different projects to before. I went to Manchester United in a phrase of transition, not to say decay.
“I went to Tottenham who don’t have a history of success. Now I go to Roma with new owners, but I immediately felt this empathy with the owners, the director and they straight away reignited the fire and passion I have for my job.
“So here I go on another Mission: Impossible. I say impossible because people tend to look at me and in their eyes there’s only one way to measure success, which is that I have to win.
“I always say that if I were to come to Portugal to coach Belenenses or Gil Vicente, if I didn’t win, then I wouldn’t call it a success.”
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