Jose Mourinho explaining recruitment behind his Porto UCL-winning side is fascinating | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho will go down as one of the greatest football managers of all time.

The Portuguese tinker-man earned his stripes under the tutelage of Bobby Robson at Barcelona, before going out to give the whole managerial thing a bash on his own.

And what a career he has had since going solo.

Jose Mourinho’s impressive managerial achievements

Mourinho has plundered silverware just about everywhere he has gone and will always be responsible for assembling one of the greatest Premier League sides we will ever see.

He won the Champions LeagueManchester United team.

In fact, Mourinho is oft quoted as saying that finishing second in the league while at the helm of United is one of his greatest managerial achievments.

However, his greatest moment might just be the one that well and truly made his name.

Before taking England, Italy and Spain by storm, Mourinho turned Porto into an all-conquering powerhouse as he claimed his first European Cup in 2004.

Mourinho and Porto upset all the odds to clinch the biggest prize in club football, firmly cementing them as one of the most iconic teams the continent has ever seen.

But how did Mourinho go about building his famous team? Well, thanks to a clip extracted from The Playbook documentary, we get fascinating insight into Mourinho’s thinking as he assembled the side.

Speaking candidly, Mourinho admitted he wasn’t looking for ready-made superstars, but instead for driven, hungry, also-rans that he could carefully craft into his winning machine.

“One of the criteria was the psychological profile of the player. We wanted home-grown players. Players with a deep feeling for the club. People that we could say, ‘This one is one of us’.

“Players with that sense of competitiveness, aggression and sacrifice. We went for special recruitment from smaller clubs. We got players without titles, without international experience. The team was not selfish.”

Mourinho then went on to tell tale of the moment he had two possible captains in mind for his side, with both of them doing what they could to give the captaincy to the other.

Clips like this are always such an apt reminder of the genius of Mourinho.

Say what you want about the latter years of his career, the man knows his football inside out and has the sparkling CV to prove it.