Optimum Sports : English Champion Has no Job

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José Mourinho, linked with an imminent move to replace Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, says he is happy to wait until the summer to make a return to football.

Pressure on Van Gaal eased briefly after United’s FA Cup win at Shrewsbury on Monday, but his side face another potential upset on Thursday in the return leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Midtjylland, having lost the first leg 2-1.

On Saturday the Internazionale director Bedy Moratti suggested Mourinho had already agreed a deal to move to Manchester, with Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, continuing to deliberate over Van Gaal’s future.

Mourinho, though – speaking to students at an event in Singapore – said he was satisfied to wait for the “right project”, playing down talk of a return to management before May. “I always feel that it’s better to wait, not to rush, better to be calm, to wait for the right moment, the right move,” he said. “I feel that starting the next season with a new club and project is probably the best thing for me.

“I’m travelling, enjoying my family, enjoying my friends and my life, and I wait to see what happens. The reality is I like football so much, I miss football, and when I have the chance to be back I will come back.”

Mourinho, who was joined by his agent Jorge Mendes to speak to children at the NorthLight school as part of the Valencia chairman Peter Lim’s Olympic scholarship, added: “It’s quite a funny career. I am the English champion, and I still have no job.

“I read so many different things. One day it says I go to China, another day it says I go to Italy, and people say I’m back to Inter Milan. I’m here – probably, you are saying I will do the Singapore national team. But the reality is I have no job, and at the moment I’m happy not to have a job.”

When he was sacked by Chelsea in December, Mourinho’s representatives, CAA, suggested he would seek a quick return: “He will not be taking a sabbatical, he isn’t tired, he doesn’t need it, he is very positive, and is already looking forward. Each time represents for him the end of a cycle and the opportunity to start a new one. José hopes that his future after Chelsea this time will be as successful as when he left the club in 2007.”