Everything Jose Mourinho has said about Liverpool rivalry, next job and selling Mohamed Salah

The ex-managers of Chelsea and Manchester United, Jose Mourinho, have been in the spotlight. The image used to illustrate this is credited to Eric Alonso and Getty Images.

During Liverpool’s recent victory over Fulham in the Premier League, Jose Mourinho was seen in attendance. It seems that the win is helping the Reds in their push for the title, which is being closely watched by the former Manchester United manager.

Since departing from Roma in January 2024, the Portuguese trainer has been without a job. He led the Italian club to victory in the first Europa Conference League in 2022 and made it to the final of the Europa League last season. Mourinho is currently on the hunt for his next gig, but after observing Liverpool's performance over the weekend, the likelihood of him stepping in for Jurgen Klopp has diminished.

After Klopp declared his upcoming departure, people are bringing up comments from Mourinho in 2019 where he implied that Xabi Alonso could become a top-notch coach. Nevertheless, the Reds won't be considering Mourinho because of his past role as the Manchester United manager and the dislike he built with Liverpool during his two terms at Chelsea.

Liverpool has been hit with yet another setback as Diogo Jota will be unable to play in the highly anticipated Merseyside derby against Everton. This news comes as a blow to the team, who has already experienced numerous injuries this season. The absence of Jota will undoubtedly affect the team's performance, but they will need to regroup and come together to pull off a victory against their rivals. Fans will be eagerly anticipating the match and hoping that Liverpool can overcome this latest challenge.

Liverpool may terminate their contract with Nike, as it's rumored that Adidas is gearing up to take over.

Let's take a look at what the individual who has won the Premier League three times has recently stated regarding Liverpool.

"The Future Of Jose Mourinho's Career"

During a conversation with The Telegraph, Mourinho recognized that he was not being considered for the Liverpool position. He made it clear that he has no intention of retiring from coaching anytime soon and described the characteristics of the team he desires to manage in his upcoming job.

Mourinho stated that he does not fear accepting job offers from clubs that may not have a definite chance of winning. Some managers may only prefer to select jobs that are already established as winners. However, Mourinho believes that it is his responsibility to transform clubs into successful teams or achieve specific goals.

All I desire is for the targets and goals to be set in an impartial manner, with input from everyone involved. I can't join a team that aims to win the championship solely based on my past achievements - that's not what I'm after. All I'm asking for is a level playing field.

I wonder if I would still have my job if I worked for a renowned Premier League team and we were ranked sixth, seventh, or eighth. My point is that people ought to evaluate me in the same manner as they assess other individuals.

What matters most to me is whether the club has specific goals that I can wholeheartedly support and fight for. I'm not necessarily looking for something that's completely practical, but it should be somewhat attainable. After all, when I joined Roma, nobody thought we could make it to the European Cup finals, but we surpassed even our own expectations. Of course, I wouldn't want to join a team that's almost on the brink of being relegated and be expected to win the Champions League; that's just not feasible. It's a great ambition to have, but not entirely reasonable or ethical.

"Crushing Liverpool's Championship Dreams"

In the beginning of Mourinho's first term as coach at Chelsea, a new animosity developed between Liverpool and Chelsea. This was primarily due to their intense clashes in the Champions League, where they went head-to-head against Rafa Benitez's team. Chelsea's interest in bringing Steven Gerrard to Stamford Bridge added even more fuel to the fire between the two teams.

When Mourinho came back to Chelsea in 2013, he still didn't like Liverpool. That year, the team from west London stopped Liverpool from winning the title. This happened when Demba Ba did something memorable because Steven Gerrard accidentally made a mistake. Chelsea were also playing in the semi-finals of the Champions League that year.

Mourinho shared on The Obi One podcast hosted by Jon Obi Mikel that their goal was to make it to the Champions League final. However, he mentioned not being able to play against Liverpool with their Under 18s. He believed it would be unfair to Man City to send even their second team to the game. Thus, they aimed to handle the situation correctly.

Our preferred game time was either Friday night or Saturday at noon the latest. Unfortunately, those options weren't granted to us. Consequently, we decided to attend the party with the intent to ruin it. We approached the event as if it were a championship match, even though it wasn't, and gave it our all in an attempt to emerge victorious.

Naturally, I decided to give some of the players a break. Instead, I chose to play the up-and-coming talent, Tomas Kalas. He played incredibly well against Luis Suarez. While on the bus, we saw street vendors selling shirts with the words "Liverpool Champions" on them. As Chelsea, we couldn't allow that to happen. It's important to keep our branding and merchandise under control.

We had an exceptional game. It's true that Stevie G slipped, and it was unfortunate because he didn't deserve it. However, that's just something that happens in football, but we still did exceptionally well overall. I had sympathy for Brendan Rodgers because he is a friend of mine, but on match days, emotions take over and friendships are put to the side.

Don't Regret Mohamed Salah Transfer

Mohamed Salah had a short time playing for Chelsea during Mourinho's second stint as coach, but then he went on loan to Fiorentina, and later signed on permanently with Roma. Some people point out that Mourinho is to blame for Chelsea's decision to sell Salah and his former colleague Kevin De Bruyne, but Mourinho disagrees. He says that it wasn't his fault that the two players left Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho expressed that Salah and De Bruyne departed the team on their own accord. Their decision to leave was due to their lack of willingness to remain patient.

Their past demonstrates that their choice was wise since it led them to pursue and excel in their career. However, at times, youngsters make impulsive decisions due to their lack of patience and inability to wait for the appropriate moment.

When individuals comment, "You allowed Salah to depart," I contradict them. I procured Salah. I was the individual who suggested, "acquire that person." Whenever he was heading towards Liverpool from Basel, I fought and struggled to bring him over to Chelsea.

Afterwards, there's a segment of the process where you have to prove yourself as a Chelsea player or be patient until an opportunity arises. But he didn't want to wait and preferred to go on loan. Eventually, Chelsea made the decision to sell him and he found himself playing for Fiorentina and then Roma before being sold again by Chelsea. Let it be clear, it wasn't my choice to sell. I had suggested that he might benefit from going on loan if he felt the need to play every minute of every game.