Will he stay? Will he go? If he goes, to whom? Mourinho indicated that he will be leaving Real Madrid earlier this season, but since, he seems to have changed his mind.
Or has he? The signs were ominous earlier in the season. He seemed to have lost patience with Spain and Spain had lost patience with him. For someone who calls himself by the term, the Special One, to be treated as just another ‘One’ must have been insulting. Particularly when Sergio Ramos pointed out that he has not a player and so did not understand particular things on the football field.
A furious row with Ramos seemed to have shown up a rift with the Spanish players in the squad, particularly when it was leaked to the press.
So let us look at what Mourinho said this week.
“At the end of the season I will have time to speak with the players and the directors and we will decide what is best for me, for the club and for the squad.”
Will the squad want him to stay? It is an interesting question. Maybe they will, but Mourinho has put plenty of feelers out there that he will leave. Who knows. But it will be a strange one. Mourinho has perhaps found it harder at Real because he is managing players who have already won stuff. When managing players who have never won before, it is easier to win them over. But these Spanish players have won, and won well – in style. So to be playing without the same style for Real is intriguing. But then that said, Real have been playing with more style than most Mourinho teams. Which begs the question, is there some kind of grand compromise? Where Mourinho allows the team to play with more freedom until he finally leaves? It would seem possible.
But then having lost in the Champions League, Mourinho’s egotistical goal to win the competition with three different teams is now at threat. He always indicated he would leave for England afterwards, and having failed to win the Champions League within two years with Real, this raises a new question.
And Mourinho, like Harry Redknapp, never stays anywhere too long. He tends to find a team, spend a lot of money, win things and then go. Leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Like Redknapp, Mourinho invariably leaves his team in a state – look at Chelsea and Inter Milan, both in decline. Oh, and Redknapp is leaving soon – so that vacancy at Spurs may open up. Coincidence? Possibly not. But with Mourinho, no one really knows quite what he is going to do next.
