Jose Mourinho says it would have been an honour to have managed Lionel Messi at some stage in his career, while he also revealed he wanted to sign Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi but failed to do so.
Mourinho has been in charge of a long list of top players over his career at the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United and most recently Roma.
However, there are names he would have loved to have added to his coaching CV, most notably Messi, who he was only ever on the opposite side to during the Argentine’s legendary time at Barcelona.
Even the Special One admits that he could not have done much to coach Messi, but says it would have been an honour to have him in his squad.
Speaking to Ohm, via Football Italia, Mourinho said of players he missed out on: ‘For example, I never got to train Lionel Messi, but then nobody can train Messi. It is absurd to think you could coach him, because he was born with everything and already knows everything.
‘He might teach you some things. All you could say is that you had the honour of having him in your squad.’
The Portuguese was speaking before he left Roma and revealed that as Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss he tried to sign a couple of club legends from the Italian capital.
‘To stay in the Roma theme, I would’ve liked to have De Rossi at Inter and Real Madrid, but it was not possible,’ he said. ‘I also wanted Totti at Inter, despite his age at the time, but it was not possible either. These are players I always wanted in my career.’
Mourinho may give a different answer now, after a tetchy departure from Roma, but he picked out the Conference League win with the Serie A side as one of his favourite moments.
‘I have many great memories and many bad ones,’ he said. ‘If I have to choose one, I will go for the most recent. It might not be the most important trophy I have won, but considering the dimension of joy that it brought and because it was the closest, I will say the Conference League at Roma.
‘There were many great things in my career, many fantastic games to remember, and it is impossible to choose just one or two.’
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