At Sport Witness we cover the French media every single day, and one of the biggest sport stories for the past few months has been who will replace Unai Emery.
That man is going to be Thomas Tuchel, but there’s been a lot of others linked. One man conspicuous by his absence has been Jose Mourinho.
It’s been repeated several times that PSG haven’t really held an interest in the Manchester United manager, L’Equipe going as far as to label links the product of English media imagination. Then he just dropped out of the stories altogether, his absence not considered worthy of an explanation.
Given all of that, it’s surprising to read a Wednesday report from Guillem Balague in AS.
The Spanish newspaper claim Mourinho was recently offered the PSG job for the fourth time in four years, and in France they believe Mourinho will one day coach the club.
‘Jose has always admitted in private that someday his way will pass through Paris, but he took advantage of PSG’s interest to press United… Mourinho hesitated, but not much. His life in a Manchester hotel makes him a hostage of his profession.
‘From training camp to hotel and hotel to training. His celebrated his renewal in Tapeo y Vino, the restaurant of Mata, but he’s seen little in the city. But it is where it wants to be.’
This may all be news to PSG. It would certainly be news to PSG’s closest, and well informed, media. In a managerial chase covered incredibly closely, as we’ve already pointed out, Mourinho wasn’t really on the stage.
But would anyone put it past Jorge Mendes to use PSG interest, imaginary or not, to pressure Manchester United? No, of course not.
