Ahead of Benfica’s Champions League match against Newcastle United, manager Jose Mourinho revealed whether he had been contacted by the Magpies to take over as manager and shared his thoughts on the Alexander Isak saga.
Mourinho was sacked by his former team Fenerbahçe in September in what was deemed to be a “painful” departure. However, he was appointed to Benfica in mid-September and has won three out of six games since his appointment.
There had been speculation before Eddie Howe’s appointment and during his time at Newcastle that Mourinho would be appointed manager at St James’ Park.
The Benfica manager has made his admiration for the Magpies clear, but revealed he has never taken steps to move him.
“I have no regrets. I never turned Newcastle down. I turned down a few clubs out of respect, but Newcastle never contacted me. To be honest, they don’t need a manager.”
“It means everything is well for the club and Eddie and that’s what I want for them.
“At the moment, no club motivates me more and makes me happier than Benfica. I would not trade Benfica for any other club in the world right now.”
Mourinho also spoke about the circumstances that led to former star striker Isak being sold to Liverpool in the summer for £130m, a record fee in English history.
“What happened to Isak in the summer is very difficult for the club, very difficult for the coach and very difficult for his fellow players,” he said.
“I think everyone knows that eventually he will leave for Liverpool.
“But one thing is we all know he’s leaving and the other thing is it’s over.
“Once that’s done we can move on and once that’s done we can bring in new players and once we have new players we can start training and adapt to playing with new players because of course Isak and Nick Woltemade are different players.”
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In fact, while Isak is yet to make his mark at Liverpool, Woltemaid has really hit the ground running.
Newcastle’s German striker has scored five goals, four in the league and one in the Champions League, but Isak has only scored one goal and provided one assist in his first seven games as a Liverpool player.
The Magpies are currently improving well under their new signing and will be hoping he can make an impact against Mourinho’s side against Benfica.
Read more: Alan Shearer fires at Alexander Isaac; There’s one reason to blame the Newcastle star – ‘It didn’t work out’.
