Jose Mourinho has finally confirmed one of football's longest-running transfer sagas — revealing he actually agreed to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013, only to change course and return to Chelsea instead.
According to BBC News, when Ferguson stepped down after 26 years at Old Trafford, he recommended David Moyes as his successor, but United reportedly held talks with Mourinho before the Portuguese ultimately pulled out of the move.
Mourinho says the decision to snub United and rejoin Chelsea, where he'd already enjoyed success, was made emotionally rather than strategically. "A decision I made with my heart," he explained, though he did not go into further detail on what tipped the balance in Chelsea's favour.
The revelation adds a fascinating new layer to the managerial merry-go-round of that era, with Moyes instead getting the United job — a tenure that lasted less than a year before ending in his sacking. Mourinho eventually took charge at Old Trafford himself in 2016, three years after reportedly turning it down the first time.