AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho will take over as the manager of Brazil, one of his former players has claimed.
The managerial role with the Selecao became available last month after Tite’s decision to walk away from the national team following their quarter-final World Cup exit.
Mourinho is one of a number of names reportedly in the frame, while the 59-year-old has also been touted as a possible target for Portugal following Fernando Santos’ departure, though Roberto Martinez seems to be the frontrunner for that job.
Carlos Alberto, who won the Champions League under Mourinho at Porto, says he has been offered the chance to work alongside the Portuguese as part of Brazil’s coaching staff.
“I was going to drop a bomb here, but I can’t,” he told the Mundo GV podcast. “Maybe [Mourinho] is the coach of the Brazilian team. I’m speaking firsthand. It’s information.
“It doesn’t matter where the information comes from, I’m giving you the information… because he even invited me [to be his number two].”
Mourinho led Roma to the inaugural Europa Conference League title last season – the Italian side’s first European trophy in more than 60 years.
That was Mourinho’s fifth continental triumph, with the former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter, Manchester United and Tottenham boss having won both the UEFA Cup/Europa League and Champions League on two occasions.
Roma are sixth in Serie A after winning just one of their five matches either side of the World Cup break. They did fight back to draw 2-2 with Milan at San Siro on Sunday, however.
Speaking last week, Roma director Tiago Pinto insisted he expects Mourinho – under contract until the end of next season – to stay on at Stadio Olimpico.
“When you get a coach like Mourinho, you must be accustomed to rumours,” Pinto told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“This was the first time in 18 months that a club or a federation were interested in him. We had no distractions at our training camp in the Algarve, we were only focused on work.
“I am Portuguese and every time we change coach, Mourinho is mentioned, but we count on him for the future.”
