Jose Mourinho has revealed that he turned down the England job in 2007, before Fabio Capello was appointed.
The revelation came on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, FIVE, when Mourinho was asked to give his opinion on the long-standing debate between Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes.
He responded: “I could have been the coach of their national team. I had it there on the table.”
And when asked why he turned it down, he said: “Because I always had national team jobs as something I wouldn’t enjoy. It was in 2007-08 and Mr (Fabio) Capello got the job.”
Mourinho has been long linked with the England job and is once again being linked as Gareth Southgate’s replacement after the Euros.
The Portuguese is currently without a job after being sacked by AS Roma recently. But he is already attracting interest from several clubs including Newcastle, Chelsea, as well as Bayern Munich.
A recent report from BILD claimed that Mourinho himself is keen on managing Bayern and has already started preparing for it in case it becomes available.
A move to Saudi Pro League has also been reported with the Saudis extremely keen in bringing him to the country which would give them a huge boost in terms of brand image.
But Mourinho has already rejected a lucrative offer from the Al-Shabab back in January, as he prefers to continue management in Europe.