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Is Mourinho heading to Liverpool?

Which team is most overdue winning the Champions League? Inter Milan. Which manager wants to win the Champions League the most? Jose Mourinho. Who could be sacked by next summer? Rafa Benitez. If this all happens then who is to say Mourinho won’t join Liverpool?

Mourinho loves a challenge. He won the Champions League with Porto when they were massive underdogs, created a dynasty at Chelsea and he chose to join Milan because he wants to win the Champions League with the sleeping giant in terms of European football.

If Liverpool don’t win the Premier League, which lets face they won’t, then Benitez would more than likely be sacked. He might keep job if he wins the Champions League but I’m not so sure that would be enough to keep his job either.
Liverpool want to win the Premier League so managing the Reds is a big challenge, just what Mourinho would relish. The charismatic 46-year old has made no secret about his love for the English game and how he would to return to the Premier League one day.

Liverpool hasn’t won the league for 19 years. When Mourinho went to Chelsea they hadn’t won the league for a lot longer. Liverpool doesn’t know how to win the title much the same as Chelsea pre-Mourinho. The Portuguese manage taught his team how to win the title. Benitez in his fifth year at Liverpool hasn’t done this and isn’t likely to do it in the foreseeable future. Mourinho did this in his first year at Stamford Bridge.

The thing that worries Liverpool fans is Rafa’s work in the transfer market that has ultimately led to a weak squad. The ex-Valencia boss complains that he has to sell before he can buy but the American owners have splashed out on hefty budgets before only to see the Spaniard blow the lot. Who blame them for their sell before you can boy policy?

Xabi Alonso was the biggest and obvious mistake made by Benitez. Alonso was that main reason why Gerrard was in the form of his life last season. Alonso and Mascarenho sitting deep let Gerrard go up and support Torres. Lukas is clearly nowhere near good enough to fill this role. Gerrard is conscious of this so he stays back more. Alonso was sold for around £35 million. If Benitez got rid of some deadwood like Voronin, Ngog, Insua, Degen, Dossena and El Zhar then this would have boosted the budget up to around £55 million. Six top quality signings could have been made and the league could have been a real possibility but even with £35 million, four good signings could have been made.

Benitez decided on Glen Johnson, Alberto Aquilani and Sotirios Krygiakos. All three are injured. Aquilani and Krygiakos have yet to make their debut while Johnson has recently picked up and injury. Where is the replacement for Alonso, or a top quality ‘Keeper to push Pepe Reina, then there are two strikers to share the workload with Fernando Torres. Aquilani is a World Class midfielder and could be the perfect partner for Gerrard or the perfect replacement. Where are they both? Injured. I’m confused as to why he didn’t buy a fit World Class midfielder.

Let us not forget the expensive mistakes made by Rafa in the past. Djibril Cisse, Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane just to name a few. Crouch and Keane are top quality strikers but for some reason Rafa didn’t fancy them so he didn’t play them. I can see why the American owners want Rafa to sell before he buys, because they no longer lose money from Rafa’s expensive mistakes.

I think Jose Mourinho would have far more success at Liverpool than Benitez. Yes he wouldn’t have as much money at Anfield as he did at The Bridge but he would find a way to make it work. He would see the lack of quality at his disposal and get rid of them. This would generate upwards of £15 million. The owners would have to give him some money to spend to make the challenge more realistic. Mourinho would identify which parts of the squad would need strengthening like he did at Chelsea. There is also quite a bit of talent at his present club Inter with the likes of Quaresma, Maicon, Mancini, Sneijder, Muntari and the list goes on. I also think he could tempt a couple of the Chelsea boys to Anfield as well. The potential is there for a title winning squad.

The simple fact is that Mourinho is a winner. He thrives on challenges. Some people would say that wherever he goes there is money. Yes there was a lot of Russian Rubles at Chelsea but this doesn’t guarantee success. Mourninho created an excellent squad and stamped his authority on a team who didn’t know how to win. Remember Porto? There wasn’t a lot of money there but he turned them into to the champions of Europe.

Liverpool doesn’t know how to win the Premier League. There manager doesn’t know how to win the Premier League. A certain Portuguese gentleman does. I can’t see the passion at Liverpool and I think that could be down to the fact that the team doesn’t have quite the same respect for Rafa as they once did. A certain Portuguese gentleman has had the respect of all the teams he has managed

Mourinho may not leave Inter and with the current situation between Gillett and Hicks meaning they can’t agree on anything, it seems unlikely that Benitez will be sacked but imagine Liverpool fans if this was all to happen?

Posted by Patrick Day on Wednesday, 28th October 2009

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