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'Let me walk': Jose Mourinho refuses to talk about Manchester United exit as he's spotted in London after sacking

The Portuguese is currently in London but is the subject of interest from Real Madrid

Ed Malyon
Wednesday 19 December 2018 14:11 GMT
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Jose Mourinho sacked as Manchester United manager

Jose Mourinho refused to talk about his departure from Manchester United in his first interview since leaving the Old Trafford club.

The Portuguese is already back at his family home in west London, which he has owned since his first spell at Chelsea. Sky Sports caught Mourinho out for a morning stroll and tried to ask him questions about the nature of his departure but the 55-year-old insisted he had "nothing to say", "nothing" on any future plans and was only keen on stretching his legs.

"Let me walk," he said. "If you want to walk, we can go to Battersea [Park]," Mourinho joked.

It is Mourinho's first day of unemployment in over two years, though ESPN have reported that he accepted a reduced pay-off in the region of £15m so the former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid boss won't necessarily be in a hurry to get back to work.

That said, Florentino Perez's interest in luring him back to Madrid has piqued the interest of the Spanish press after first being reported by The Independent on Tuesday.

Jose Mourinho pictured being interviewed by Sky Sports (Sky Sports)

El Pais have reported that the Bernabeu club have already got an outline contract drawn up for the Portuguese, though officials denied any negotiations with Mourinho when contacted by the Spanish newspaper.

Marcelo, arguably the world's best left-back and one of the few players still at the Spanish giants from Mourinho's turbulent spell in charge there, waxed lyrical about the former United boss' abilities as a coach in comments that were interpreted as being fairly pointed by the local media.

"[His sacking] is a pity as he is a great coach and for him to be without a club is a pity," he told reporters. "It's not for me to say if he should come to Real Madrid, but I really appreciate all he did for me at this club.”

While Santiago Solari recently signed a three-year contract with the European champions , the rookie Argentinean coach has not got the team playing to the exacting standards of the Madrid board. A meek 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend was met with more questions after a humbling 3-0 defeat at home to CSKA Moscow had sparked talk that Solari might not even see out this season.

For now Solari is safe but as leading Spanish sports daily AS described it on Wednesday morning, Mourinho is 'the permanent sword of Damocles' hanging over Solari, "resurfacing the feeling of interimness that not even a three-year contract has been able to dissipate."

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