Jose Mourinho close to becoming technical director at Al-Qadisiyah | OneFootball

Former Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, is reportedly close to a switch to Saudi Arabia.

The Portuguese coach was at Old Trafford for two and a half seasons, delivering the Carabao Cup and Europa League trophies between 2016-2018.

There was also a credible second place finish in the 2017/2018 season.

However, as things tend to go with Mourinho, there was a falling out with players and the wheels fell off the wagon quite quickly in the autumn of 2018 and he was finally sacked after a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

The “special one” has since managed at Tottenham Hotspur and Roma, where he won the Europa Conference League in 2022 and was a penalty shootout away from winning the Europa League last season.

However, after poor form this season, he was sacked from Roma in January 2024 and has been linked to numerous jobs across Europe.

A few weeks ago, the 61 year old was even sensationally linked to a return to Old Trafford, as it has been reported that he “would love” the opportunity to manage at United again. However, the club is said to be uninterested in a reunion.

It has also been reported that Mourinho has an agreement with Fenerbahce presidential candidate, Aziz Yıldırım, and should the latter win the election, the former has promised to join the Turkish giants.

However, Sportitalia now report that “the future of José Mourinho, the former Roma coach, does not appear to be in Turkey. According to information exclusively gathered by our Gianluigi Longari, he is now close to becoming the new technical director of the Saudi club Al-Qadisiyah.”

The move would be a surprising one as Mourinho has not indicated that he is ready to leave the managerial arena just yet.

Speaking in February this year the former United coach claimed, “it is not like I am 61 and I want to stop at 65. No way at all. There is still a long career to go.”

Therefore, whilst the money on offer and a role change may appeal to the Portuguese, it is hard to imagine that with so many coaching roles up for grabs this summer, he would commit to a technical director role in the Middle East just yet, especially at a club that is by no means a powerhouse in the region and have only just secured promotion to the Saudi Pro League this season.

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