Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he came to an agreement with Sir Alex Ferguson to become Manchester United manager in 2013, a decision he subsequently reversed in favour of returning to Chelsea. The disclosure, made in a three-episode Netflix documentary series titled Mourinho — produced by Ventureland, the company behind Beckham and FIFA Uncovered — airs on Tuesday.
Ferguson, who ended his 26-year tenure at Old Trafford having won a 13th Premier League title, sat Mourinho down to explain the situation and believed the deal was done. In the documentary, the United legend describes how the position shifted within a matter of hours.
Ferguson said: "He was offered the job, yes. I sat him down and explained the situation, and as far as I was concerned, he was accepting. And then within hours, it changed."
What prompted the change was Mourinho's attachment to Chelsea. He had guided the club to the Premier League title in 2004 and again the following year, also collecting an FA Cup and two League Cups during that first spell, and felt unable to walk away from the chance to return to west London.
Mourinho also acknowledged the pull United had exerted on him, describing the club as sitting very close to Real Madrid — whom he regards as the biggest club in the world — in terms of its appeal. But he said his need to feel wanted after a turbulent exit from the Bernabéu proved decisive, adding that doing something for love means never doing anything wrong and that he returned to Chelsea with a sense of going home, albeit with great responsibility.
His second stint at Chelsea produced a third league title, won in the 2014-15 season, and a League Cup, before Roman Abramovich dismissed him in December 2015 following a poor start to the following campaign.
Mourinho accepted a second chance to take over at United in May 2016, succeeding Louis van Gaal. His first season brought the Europa League and League Cup, and he led the club to a second-place Premier League finish in 2017-18. His tenure unravelled in the third season, with a deteriorating relationship with several players — including £89 million Paul Pogba — contributing to his sacking in December 2018.
A substantial section of the documentary revisits his first spell at Real Madrid, where he broke the grip Pep Guardiola's Barcelona had on Spanish football, claiming La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in his first two seasons. The 100 points Real accumulated in 2011-12 has never been surpassed in La Liga history. Yet by the end of a bruising third season, his relations with much of the dressing room had collapsed, and the club finished 15 points behind Barcelona — who equalled that 100-point record — before he was dismissed.
Central to that breakdown was his acrimonious feud with club captain Iker Casillas, a goalkeeper with 725 appearances and 25 years of service at Real who spent much of the 2012-13 campaign on the bench. Casillas said in the film that the relationship between the pair was very cold, and that Mourinho had benched him, refused to speak to him and spoken badly about him in the media, making the dressing room a nightmare.
Mourinho is now embarking on a second spell in charge at Real Madrid, with his appointment confirmed in June this year.
Reporting: The Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC Sport, ESPN, RTÉ, Mirror, The Sun.