Amidst suspicions that José Mourinho already has a deal in place to move to the Santiago Bernabeu, the still-current Internazionale coach is to meet with club president Massimo Moratti within the next day to notify the European champions of his intentions.
Mourinho To Meet With Moratti About Move
Mourinho’s spokesman Eladio Parames said today: “Yes, they [Mourinho and Moratti] will meet in Milan. If not in the next few hours, then tomorrow.”
Mourinho admitted after Saturday’s defeat of Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Madrid that he was keen to fill a post at the Bernabéu still occupied by Manuel Pellegrini.
Reports in Spain today suggested Mourinho’s agent, Jorge Mendes, was in the Spanish capital thrashing out the finer details of a deal.
Also in the report is one of the more ironic aspects of the story – Letizia Moratti, sister-in-law of Massimo and mayor of Milan – asking the press to help convince José Mourinho to stay with Inter:
“I would like to appeal to journalists, help us to convince Mourinho to stay, more so because this is your fault,” she told Gazzetta dello Sport. “He wants to leave because in the rest of Europe the press is less critical.”
For two years, Mourinho has derided the magnifying glass under which Italian coaches live, often saying that Italy’s press makes the nation into a country of coaches, all set to second-guess and criticize. Ostensibly there’s nothing wrong with that. Italian soccer coverage is remarkable by almost any standard, but you can see how the frustrations of constantly having to defend yourself would make a coach long for a more comfortable habitat.
In Spain, José would presumably have Real Madrid mouthpiece Marca on his side, quite a change from the environment in Italy. Whereas arms of the Spanish media persist as a club’s marketing agent, the Italian press takes pride in being an informed and vocal critic.
Letizia Moratti’s pleas are not only two years too late, but they’re likely to fall on deaf ears. Mourinho just doesn’t like the culture around Italian soccer.
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