Jose Mourinho has appeared to quash any chance of him taking up the vacant Newcastle United job by saying he needs to be at a club that wants to win something.
Newcastle have been thrown into disarray by the departure of much-loved manager Rafael Benitez with the likes of Mourinho, Mikel Arteta, Sean Dyche and Garry Monk linked with the job.
Mourinho has been out of management since being sacked by Manchester United midway through last season, but it seems he is ready to step back into a role.
“The only thing that I know is what I don’t want,” Mourinho told The Coaches’ Voice . “I am quite pathological in the sense of I have to play to win.
“Then, if I don’t win, then that’s my problem and the players and the club and the structure but I need a project where the feeling is I play to win.
“If somebody gives me a wonderful 10-year contract and the objective of the team is to stay in the first half of the table and, if you finish seventh, eighth or ninth, it’s perfect, then that’s not for me.
“That’s my nature. My next [goal] is to fight to win.”
Given owner Mike Ashley’s history of underinvestment at the club , it seems unlikely that Newcastle would suit Mourinho’s ambitious nature.
Benitez’s grudging exit from St James’ Park was reportedly heavily influenced by Ashley’s inability to make assurances over spending in the transfer window, with his replacement likely having to operate on a restricted budget.
The January signing of Miguel Almiron for a club-record £20 million ($25.3m) had some long-suffering fans allowing themselves to believe times were changing, but it seems like yet another false dawn for the club.
Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed’s proposed takeover is still up in the air, but Benitez’s exit has led to speculation that Ashley has once again decided against selling up.
Mourinho, meanwhile, has now been out of work for over six months, though he has recently suggested he may take his first steps into international management.
Despite 25 major honours to his name, the 56-year-old is not the star name he once was following his mixed period in charge at Old Trafford.
