The Portuguese press continue to insist that we’ve all got it wrong on Jose Mourinho.
Reports in Spain and The Athletic in England claim that the Benfica coach is the first choice of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Yet in Portugal’s leading sports outlets, there’s far more caution, with A Bola, Record and O Jogo continuing to claim he’s more likely to stay at Benfica.
That’s because they’re more familiar with the work of his ‘super agent’ Jorge Mendes.
Explaining what he thinks is happening, director of Recrod, Bernardo Ribeiro, said: “I understand that not everyone fully grasps how Real Madrid operates.
“It’s much easier to convince the president of a French club than to convince the president of Real Madrid, because we’re talking about needing personal guarantees worth around 15% of Real Madrid’s budget – which is no joke for anyone.
“I don’t think Jose Mourinho is a huge electoral trump card
“Because I think Mourinho’s name was used a bit like the political tactic used by António Costa and Passos Coelho [Portuguese politicians] – throwing something extreme out there first.
“It’s like saying: ‘Bread is going to go up by 30 euros.’ Everyone panics over 30 euros, and then later they say: ‘Actually it’s only 10.’ And people respond: ‘Ah, okay then, that’s fine.’”
Mourinho a political tool
Turning to Mendes, he continued: “I think Jose Mourinho’s name was thrown into the Spanish press through excellent work by Jorge Mendes.
“Credit has to be given to Jorge Mendes. And in truth, more than one multinational PR company seems to have been working on this issue.
“And it seems to me they did a very good job showing Florentino Perez that today there is no liability, no real risk, in betting on José Mourinho.
“And this is very important in this discussion, because it also has to be said clearly: José Mourinho is not Real Madrid’s first option.
“He’s not Real Madrid’s second option. And it seems to me he’s probably not even Real Madrid’s third option.”
Ribeiro’s point also seems to be backed up by Perez’s latest move, calling an election.
Such a snap decision is likely to disrupt his ability to negotiate with Mourinho in the 10-day window he has set out in his Benfica contract starting on Monday.
Outside of Mourinho, smaller names continue to be linked like Pellegrino Matarazzo and Raul.
There’s also the timing question with World Cup coaches, as Didier Deschamps, Mauricio Pochettino and Carlo Ancelotti could be targeted once the election cycle is over, assuming Perez wins.
Perez, on his part, was asked about Mourinho in his hour-long press conference on Tuesday, but continually insisted: “I’m not here to talk about sporting issues.”
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