Jose Mourinho Becomes AS Roma Head Coach from Serie A 2021-22 Season Onwards

Jose Mourinho will take over the role of head coach at Serie A club AS Roma on a three-year deal, the club announced on Twitter on Tuesday ahead of the 2021-22 season. This comes just 15 days after Tottenham Hotspur sacked Mourinho a day after they announced their involvement in the breakaway European Super League – a plan that fell to the ground in just 48 hours due to intense pressure from the fans, UEFA and all football associations. Mourinho will take over from fellow Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, who leaves Roma at the end of the current campaign.

“The club are delighted to announce an agreement has been reached with Jose Mourinho for him to become our new head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season,” AS Roma wrote on Twitter.

This is not Mourinho’s first stint in Italy. He was the head coach of Inter Milan from 2008-2010, where he saw immense success. He guided Inter to two Serie A titles and a European treble in 2009-10 season, where the club won the domestic league, Coppa Italian and the UEFA Champions League, a first for an Italian club. He also won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and three Premier League titles with Chelsea.

Mourinho’s departure from Tottenham made it the first time that he left a club without winning a single trophy during his tenure.

Mourinho, who led Manchester United to the Europa League in 2017, has signed a contract with Roma that runs until June 30, 2024.

“We are thrilled and delighted to welcome Jose Mourinho into the AS Roma family,” club president Dan Friedkin and vice-president Ryan Friedkin said.

“A great champion who has won trophies at every level, Jose will provide tremendous leadership and experience to our ambitious project.

“The appointment of Jose is a huge step in building a long-term and consistent winning culture throughout the club.”

Mourinho has claimed 25 major trophies in his career to date and joins a club that hasn’t won Serie A since 2001.

“Thank you to the Friedkin family for choosing me to lead this great club and to be part of their vision,” Mourinho said in a statement.

“It is the same ambition and drive that has always motivated me and together we want to build a winning project over the upcoming years.

“The incredible passion of the Roma fans convinced me to accept the job and I cannot wait to start next season.”

‘ONE OF THE GREATEST’

Mourinho is one of only three managers to have won the Champions League with two different clubs, a feat he has also repeated in the Europa League.

“When Jose became available, we immediately jumped at the chance to speak with one of the greatest managers of all time,” said Roma general manager Tiago Pinto.

“We were blown away by Jose’s desire to win and his passion for the game: no matter how many trophies he has won, his primary focus is always on the next one. He possesses the knowledge, experience and leadership to compete at all levels.”

Earlier Roma confirmed that Fonseca would leave the club after two years with the three-time Italian champions who are trophyless since 2008.

Fonseca, 48, joined the club in 2019 on a two-year contract with the option for a third year if the club reached the Champions League next season.

The club finished fifth in Serie A last campaign and are currently seventh, nine points behind city rivals Lazio who sit sixth and have a game in hand.

Roma trail Mourinho’s former club Manchester United 6-2 going into Thursday’s second leg of their Europa League semi-final in the Italian capital.

Fonseca replaced Claudio Ranieri, who had a brief spell as coach after Eusebio Di Francesco was sacked in January 2019.

Di Francesco had guided the club to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018.

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