From looking at this, you get the impression he wouldn't mind being at the Bernabeu next season. Jose Mourinho has been out of work for almost three months now, and you can bet he is already getting itchy feet. While it is highly unlikely we will see him take up a position before the end of the season, we would would bet that he will be patrolling the touchline by the start of the next campaign.
He has been keeping himself busy since his departure from Old Trafford, notably making a couple of tv punditry appearances on beIN SPORTS. He was back in their studio once again tonight, giving his two cents on the meeting of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Barcelona would run out reasonably comfortable winners in that one, with Los Blancos putting in a fairly abject display. Mourinho was certainly not impressed, labelling their performance as 'soft':
"It was not a performance of a happy team. Not a performance of a team with great belief or self-esteem."
"It was a soft performance."
Jose Mourinho is not holding back in his assessment of Real Madrid following their #ElClasico defeat.#beINMourinho #beINElClasico pic.twitter.com/92j4HmPIsp— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) March 2, 2019
I think it was not a happy performance, not the performance of a happy team. It was not the performances of a team with great belief or self-esteem. Cleary, they are now in a zone after a few bad results, especially the cup match (against Barcelona in midweek), where they are in a low.
They couldn't bring to the game what I used to call the 'temperature' of the big matches, they were passive. I cannot speak about a bad performance, it was not a bad performance. I just think it was a soft performance.
Sometimes you play like this against medium teams, and in the end you get a positive result. But against the top team you have to do much more than this if you want to win.
It sounds like Jose has all the answers. He is suggesting that this Madrid team is a bit soft at the moment, not enough fight in them, not angry enough.
While you can accuse Jose Mourinho teams of many things, being soft is not one of them. The Portuguese manager could well be throwing comments like this out there to suggest he is the man to turn the situation at the club around, and this certainly sounds like a 'come and get me plea'.
Earlier in the show he was quick to recall all the successes at the club. He also denied that any contact had been made regarding a return, but did not shoot down the idea either.
"He knows more than me." 👀
Jose Mourinho responds to the claims of former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon that he's set to return to the Bernabéu next season.
Full story here ⬇️https://t.co/pxntaTy4hF#beINMourinho #beINElClasico #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/wSrzFomcGY— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) March 2, 2019
Mourinho left the Bernabeu on decent terms in 2013, and is still a favourite of club president Florentino Perez. Current buss Santiago Solari is looking increasingly likely to be replace at the end of the season, and it would not be a major surprise if Mourinho was sounded out for the job.
Judging by his comments and demeanour here, he certainly seems open to the idea.
