Jose Mourinho, the former manager of football club Tottenham Hotspur, has joined Serie A side AS Roma and will start coaching next year, a
statement released by the club said on Tuesday.
Mourinho, who was sacked by the Spurs in April, will be
replacing Roma’s current coach Paulo Fonseca, as the latter is scheduled to leave
at the end of the current season.
“We are thrilled and delighted to welcome José Mourinho into
the AS Roma family. A great champion who has won trophies at every level, José
will provide tremendous leadership and experience to our ambitious project”,
the statement quoted club President Dan Friedkin and vice-president Ryan
Friedkin as saying.
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“The appointment of José is a huge step in building a long-term and consistent winning culture throughout the club”, the statement further referred to the chiefs as saying.
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The 58-year-old manager has had an illustrious coaching career, winning the Champions League with Porto in 2004, a total of three Premier League titles with Chelsea, and a La Liga trophy with Real Madrid in 2012, before leading Manchester United to their Europa League victory in 2017.
He is also renowned as the innovator of the famous ultra-defensive technique, informally referred to by fans across the world as ‘parking the bus’.
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The technique involves almost all players of a side falling down to their own half and defending, rather than forming attacking gameplay.
Roma haven’t had a smooth sail this year with their Europa League journey, being thrashed 6-2 by Mourinho’s former club Manchester United last week.