Jose Mourinho: I’ve had three job offers but I don’t park the bus

Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.

JOSE Mourinho says he has turned down three job offers since being sacked as Manchester United boss and has rejected criticism of the team’s playing style.

The Portuguese, 55, was sacked in December after the club said there had been no progress with results, style or developing young players.

Former United player Gary Neville said no-one should be able to shape their own philosophy at the club again.

“Gary Neville doesn’t know my philosophy,” Mourinho told Bein Sports.

“My philosophy depends. I would love to go to a club and have [the same] conditions that [Liverpool boss] Jurgen Klopp and [Manchester City manager] Pep Guardiola did.

“I refused already three jobs because I didn’t feel it was what I want.”

Mourinho, who led Manchester United to League Cup and Europa League titles, is understood to have a non-disclosure agreement signed as part of his pay-off from the club, meaning he is not allowed to talk about his departure.

But he spoke about a range of subjects as a studio guest on Bein Sports, including:

‘One player asked me not to criticise him in training’

At various points Mourinho was critical of winger Anthony Martial, full-back Luke Shaw and striker Marcus Rashford, who has been re-born under interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But he outlined how one player asked not to be criticised in training which Mourinho thought was a sign of modern players being too sensitive.

“Recently, when I was coaching one player he told me and he was very polite, ‘please when you criticise me can you do it in private’,” he said.

“I told him why? ‘Because of my stature, in front of the other players when you criticise me I don’t feel comfortable’.

“Nowadays you have to be very smart in the way you read your players, and try to create the best situation.”

He contrasted the situation with that of former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, with whom he worked at Stamford Bridge when he twice won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006.

“With Drogba, he is the kind of player that the more pressure from the manager, the more quality in his performance,” Mourinho added.

“There are some players where if you squeeze them they answer in the best way.

“There are other mentalities and personalities and the reaction is not the best. They were brought up in a different way, an easier social life, coming to the top level of football, everything came too easy to them.

“Some of them they don’t react in the same way. Certain moments, some strong public words, some of them have some risk.”

Manchester City and Liverpool are ‘well supported’

Mourinho said that his philosophy depended on the team he was managing, but rejected accusations that his sides were defensive or ‘parked the bus’.

He cited the football played during his first stint at Chelsea and said: “You know when the [parking the bus] reputation started?

“It was when I was champions with Real Madrid with 100 points and 106 goals – the record of Spanish football.”

He also hinted that he was not as well supported as Guardiola and Klopp.

That is despite spending a then world record transfer fee of £89m for Paul Pogba and £75m on striker Romelu Lukaku. In all Mourinho spent £400m on players during his time in charge at Old Trafford.

He said: “At Man City in the first season Guardiola was not a champion. In the second season Pep made great decisions but those that were supported. In the same summer he sold four full-backs and bought four backs.

“At Liverpool how many players were there before Jurgen Klopp arrived? If you are a manager and you [are able] to choose the players to follow your idea, that’s one thing. The other thing is when you are not able to do that.”