Jose Mourinho hinted that Cristiano Ronaldo has asked him to take the vacant managerial reins at Juventus this summer.
Reports in Italy on Monday indicated that Ronaldo had told the Juventus hierarchy to bring his former boss to the club following Max Allegri’s departure.
An article in Gazetta dello Sport stated: “Two parties are pressing Juventus to take on Jose Mourinho as their new coach.
“One, logically, is his representative Jorge Mendes and the other appears to be Cristiano Ronaldo , who has put their differences at Real Madrid to one side and backs the appointment of his compatriot.”
And now Mourinho has added further fuel to the fire, declaring one of his former players has indeed asked him to take over in Turin this summer.
Mourinho told BeIN Sports: “One of the players that I have a great relation with, he plays for a team and he told me, ‘You should come here next season’, and I told him, ‘They don’t love me’”.
“He told me, ‘You win three matches and they will start loving you’”.
The Portuguese’s comments have lead to suggestions he was referring to his somewhat sour relationship with Juve supporters during his time as Inter Milan boss.
A relationship that became further strained following Mourinho’s celebration on the pitch at the Allianz Arena back in November following Manchester United ’s 2-1 win in the Champions League.
The then-Red Devils boss cupped his ear to Juve fans at the full time whistle after being on the receiving end of unsavoury chants from the Old Lady faithful during the clash.
Mourinho was sacked a month after the group stage win in Turin and has been linked with a string of clubs since his departure at Old Trafford.
The 56-year-old has revealed he intends to return to management this summer, but has refused to talk about specific clubs out of 'respect'.
Mourinho told RMC: "I have a lot of qualities and one of them is to respect other clubs and their management.
"I have never spoken like this, 'this club wanted me, they contacted me'.
"When I left Manchester United in Dcemeber, I immediately took the decision I want to work from summer."
