Jose Mourinho: I love Chelsea too much to ever join Tottenham – manager’s best Spurs quotes

After the Portuguese’s return was confirmed, his old musings on Spurs have re-emerged

After Jose Mourinho‘s appointment at Tottenham Hotspur was confirmed on Wednesday, a collection of the manager’s old quotes have re-emerged.

Here we take a look at three of his most memorable moments talking about Spurs:

1 March, 2015 - Chelsea vs Tottenham

Ahead of defeating Tottenham in the League Cup final in 2015 – Mauricio Pochettino’s first season in charge at the club – Mourinho famously claimed that he could never join Spurs due to his allegiance with Chelsea.

“Yes. I couldn’t go,” he said of chairman Daniel Levy’s attempts to hire him. ”I couldn’t train in England for two years.” Then asked if he would’ve taken the job if an agreement could have been reached, Mourinho added: “No, because I love Chelsea supporters too much. I’m Chelsea.”

19 September, 2004 - Chelsea vs Tottenham

After Chelsea drew 0-0 with Tottenham during the Portuguese’s first stint in charge at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho said: “As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal. I would have been frustrated if I had been a supporter who paid £50 to watch this game because Spurs came to defend. This is a difficult league with everyone losing games. Maybe even Tottenham will lose a game defending with 11 players.”

1 September, 2019 - Tottenham vs Arsenal

Speaking on Sky Sports as a pundit ahead of the north London derby, Mourinho claimed: “Maybe now, the feeling that I have what is happening with [Christian] Eriksen, with [Jan] Vertonghen, in the end of last season with [Toby] Alderweireld, it looks like probably now some of the boys they are not so happy to stay.

“They have their eyes in bigger pictures. Other players getting more money than them, other players getting more titles, look to Kyle Walker winning trophies, looking to the possibility to play for Real Madrid, for Barcelona, for Paris Saint-Germain. Maybe in this moment the team is not that focused family full of chemistry.”