11 months ago
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Darren Bent may have predicted Jose Mourinho’s next job, and it’s one that might not have been expected.
The 2010 European treble winner received the sixth sacking of his career, as Roma said goodbye after a run of damaging results.
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The departure marks a sad end to Mourinho’s time in the Italian capital, having led the team to the Europa Conference League title in 2022 and convincingly won over the fanbase.
A league winner with Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter and Porto, taking the Roma job marked a step away from the very top of European football for Mourinho.
That’s led to doubts that he could land jobs as big as Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain, but Bent thinks there could be a window for Mourinho to end a job arguably bigger than both.
At 60 years of age and potentially past his best, Mourinho still knows how to win knockout tournaments, and that could be of huge need this summer.
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“Mourinho isn’t a project manager,” Bent explained. “He is someone who needs readymade players.
“The England job for him would be perfect, we’ve got this talented crop of young players and the way that they play… he’s one of those managers where you think ‘right we’ve got the Euros and World Cup coming up, Jose - a quick fix, he’ll win it.'
“What happens after that, it usually ends badly. But he’s a quick fix, he can get you success.
“Going into a competition, who gives you more chance of winning, Jose or Gareth [Southgate]? I know the football’s not great, but…”
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England go into Euro 2024 as favourites among the bookmakers, just ahead of France, piling pressure on incumbent manager Southgate.
The Englishman has so far reached a European Championship final and a World Cup semi-final, and has been widely praised for reuniting the team with the fanbase.
Jose Mourinho looks emotional as Roma fans say goodbye to former boss as he leaves training ground following sacking
However, his contract expires in December 2024, and this could well be his last hurrah.
“My contract is until December,” Southgate explained during the summer. “That was always put in place because it would allow everybody reflection time, really.
“I think we’ll have to go very, very well for that [an extension] to be a possibility in anybody’s eyes and that’s fair enough. I’m more than comfortable with that.
“My aim is to try and win the tournament and everything I do is geared around that and every conversation I have with the players now is geared around that.”
