Jose Mourinho has revealed that he told Sir Alex Ferguson of his intention to leave Real Madrid for Chelsea ‘many months ago’.
According to the Portuguese, who has since returned to Stamford Bridge in a move largely expected for several weeks, he shared his intentions with now former Manchester United manager Ferguson, having had the Scot tell him he was retiring in May.
“I knew that Ferguson was retiring many months ago and I was so happy to have his trust,” Mourinho reflected this weekend.
“It was big news for the world. I can imagine that just a very close circle around him knew that and it was a big responsibility for me to know that.
“Why do I know that? Because we are friends. If I am his friend to know he is going to retire, he is also my friend to know that the club I want to coach in England is Chelsea. Of course I told him.
“For Chelsea, I would turn down every job in the world.”
The 50-year-old faces speculation heading into his second spell at the club that he would willingly listen to offers for a number of notable names including Juan Mata and Fernando Torres.
“There is something I say whenever I go to a new club and I am going to say it again when I meet the players on 8 July – and some of the boys will have heard it before from me.
“It is a sentence I always say on the first day: ‘If you are a top professional, if you are not a selfish person, if you put the club in front of yourself and if you are here to work 100 per cent for me, for your fellow players and for the club, then we will have a wonderful relationship.
“‘If you are selfish, if you think about yourself and you don't care about the club, don't care about the image, if you don't care about the fans then we are in big trouble, so it depends on you if the relationship is fantastic or if it is not fantastic’.
“Torres? Somebody could expect more because of what he did before. But not so bad as people sometimes try to say.”
Mourinho also reflected on Chelsea’s 2006 purchase of Andriy Shevchenko, which was widely believed to be a contributory factor to his departure from the London club the first time around in September 2007.
Whilst dismissing that suggestion, the Portuguese did reveal that the Ukrainian was not the club’s first choice that summer.
“We wanted to buy Samuel Eto'o. That was our target. He was more than ready to do everything to bring Eto'o here.
“The boss did everything to bring Eto'o. At the last moment, Barcelona refused to sell. So we looked at other options. I was happy with Shevchenko.
“Even with the top dogs, when you buy and pay £30m, £40m, £50m, sometimes it doesn't work.”
