A year before he took charge in Madrid, Real had splashed more than £232million on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema et al. Mourinho then spent around £175m, with the likes of Fabio Coentrao, Angel Di Maria and Luka Modric — among others — all close to £30m each. Including wages topping £200m per season, Mourinho had more than £1BILLION to win the Champions League. - ANTONY KASTRINAKIS But that aside, do you realize this is not a dream match-up as it is made up to be but rather a match-up of convenience? When Roman Abramovich got rid of Roberto Di Matteo, he appointed Benitez as interim manager and went on to hunt for managers. First on his list was Pep Guardiola, and when he failed with that one tried Jurgen Klopp who also turned him down. Jose Mourinho always admired the Old Trafford seat and always wished to replace Sir Alex Ferguson whenever he decided to quit. Ferguson quit, Sir Bobby Charlton said Mourinho can never be entrusted with Manchester United. Ferguson himself has always talked of Moyes as the man to take over from him. So Mourinho and ABramovich just found themselves on the street with no takers and decided to comfort each other
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:18:51 +0000