Jose Mourinho has revealed he agreed to take the Manchester United job after Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, only to change his mind and return to Chelsea.
The Portuguese manager eventually arrived at Old Trafford three years later, but the accepted version of United’s 2013 succession had David Moyes chosen to follow Ferguson.
Mourinho has now revealed that events initially played out very differently.
Speaking in his new Netflix documentary, Mourinho says he had agreed to become United manager after leaving Real Madrid.
The Guardian reports that Mourinho had signed a deal to succeed Ferguson before performing an extraordinary U-turn.
Mourinho’s Manchester United job decision confirmed by Ferguson
Mourinho ultimately chose to return to Chelsea, where he had previously won two Premier League titles during his first spell.
He explained that following an intense period at Real Madrid, he wanted to return somewhere he felt loved.
The most remarkable part of the story is that Ferguson backs up Mourinho’s account.
The former United manager says Mourinho had accepted the position before calling him to explain that he had changed his mind.
According to Ferguson, Mourinho was emotional during the conversation.
United instead appointed Moyes, who had spent more than a decade with Everton.
His reign lasted less than a season as United struggled to adapt following Ferguson’s retirement.
ReadManUtd’s history of Manchester United details the difficult period which followed Ferguson’s departure, with the club still searching for the sustained dominance achieved during his 26 years in charge.
Mourinho eventually became United manager in 2016.
He won the League Cup and Europa League during his first season before leaving the club in December 2018.
The new revelation inevitably raises one of the biggest questions from United’s post-Ferguson era.
Nobody can know how Mourinho would have performed had he taken charge of the reigning Premier League champions in 2013, but United apparently came far closer to finding out than anyone previously knew.
