A new book has claimed Jose Mourinho was very close to becoming Liverpool manager back in 2004.
ESPN today carries a snippet from “Mourinho: Behind the Special One, from the origin to the glory” written by French journalist Nicolas Vilas.
Mourinho’s adviser at the time, Jorge Baidek, is said to have held a meeting at the Porto team’s hotel in April 2004.
And Baidek is quoted as saying: “Mourinho should have gone to Liverpool. Rick Parry [then chief executive] was in charge of transfers and we had an agreement.
“They asked us to wait for 15 days as [Gerard] Houllier was still the Reds’ manager.”
The suggestion is that Jose was all set for Anfield before Chelsea swooped in.
It goes on to claim that agent Jorge Mendes presented a more lucrative offer from the Stamford Bridge outfit.
Mourinho then apparently went on to meet Roman Abramovich on two occasions in May before a deal was later sealed for him to take charge at Chelsea.
Several former Liverpool stars have previously commented on Mourinho being in the running for the job.
And their versions of events offer a different perspective to the one presented in the new account.
Back in 2016, Danny Murphy said: “When [Rafael] Benitez was appointed at Liverpool, it was between him and Mourinho.
“I know that for a fact. Mourinho wanted the Liverpool job massively.
“But Liverpool basically went with Benitez, because he’d just won the Spanish league title and UEFA Cup with Valencia and they thought that was more solid an appointment than someone who had only done it in Portugal.
“I know Mourinho was massively disappointed.”
He jokingly added: “I’m gutted too because Benitez came in and didn’t want me. I’m just gutted it wasn’t Mourinho because he might have wanted me to stay!”
And earlier this year, Jamie Carragher lifted the lid on why Mourinho was overlooked.
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Carra explained: “Gerard Houllier had lost his job and Rick Parry had interviewed Rafa Benitez at some stage. He was just keeping the senior players informed of where they were up to.
“And he did mention Jose Mourinho. I knew much more about Rafa Benitez because of the Spanish league and it looked like that was down the road anyway.
“But I think the feeling was that Jose Mourinho couldn’t be a Liverpool manager.
“Possibly, in some ways, because of the way he conducted himself at times.
“Even that running down the line – even though it was great – at Old Trafford, I think the feeling was at the club and from certain players as well, that wasn’t the Liverpool way, you couldn’t just go doing something like that.”
Jose Mourinho had deal in place to become Liverpool manager claims new book - Liverpool Echo
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