Mourinho: “When the season ends, we will have 10 days to decide if we continue or if we separate”

The Benfica coach, José Mourinho, did not want to talk about a possible return to the Real Madrid bench next season and has stated that when the current season ends they will have “10 days to decide” if he continues at the Portuguese club or if he leaves.

“I don’t want to say anything more about it. I have already said what I had to say about Benfica and I am not going to make any more comments (…) Everyone knows what the situation is. When the season ends, we will have 10 days to decide if we continue or if we separate. I already said what I had to say and I have nothing more to add,” he declared in the press conference prior to the league match against Moreirense.

In addition, he denied disagreements with the club president, Rui Costa. “Today the news came out that I was upset with the president… The only reason I’m upset with him is because, I don’t know why, but they didn’t give me my membership badge for 25 years. I think they gave it to everyone but me, they forgot about me. That’s the only reason I’m upset. Otherwise, everything is fine, there’s no problem,” he joked.

On the other hand, the Portuguese coach spoke about his relationship with the squad. “When I arrived, the squad was not mine, but now it is. There is a big difference. I have had meetings with the board, with the president and the director, because I like to be subject to my responsibilities (…) We have met quite frequently to try to improve what my squad is. Because this squad is mine, and if I continue next season, this squad will continue to be mine,” he stated.

“It will have some adjustments so that it is more like my style, so that it has my personal stamp. But this squad is mine, and I like it. One thing is to adapt it to a type of personality and a particular way of seeing football, and quite another is to make radical changes. I am totally against radical changes, there are many players here who have improved notably, and I hope that next season they will be even better than this one,” he continued.

In another order of things, regarding the continuity or not of Nicolás Otamendi, given the possible interest of River Plate, he acknowledged that “it depends only on him.” “There are those who have the right to choose their future based on everything they have built in football, and Otamendi is one of them. He played his last game with the national team on Argentine soil by his own decision, he will retire from the national team after the World Cup by his own decision, and it is his decision whether he returns to Argentina and River or stays at Benfica. Everything is in his hands,” he stressed.

“The performance he has shown throughout the season, with very few injuries and absences, and a constant and solid presence, gives him the necessary credibility to not focus on his age, but on his performance. He is a great player, and his quality does not change from one year to the next,” he concluded.