Mourinho close to agreeing deal with Portuguese club 🇵🇹 | OneFootball

José Mourinho is very close to returning to work in his home country.

According to information from CNN Portugal and Fabrizio Romano, the transfer wizard, the coach has reached a preliminary agreement to take over the technical command of Benfica.

Only final adjustments to the contract remain for the Special One to be officially announced by the Lisbon club.

The move marks Mourinho's return to Portuguese football, more than two decades after leaving the country for international success.

And right at the club where he took his first steps in 2000, before moving to União de Leiria, and reaching FC Porto, where he became a legend with the Champions League title in 2004 and the Club World Cup.

Back at Benfica, the expectation is that Mou can lead the Eagles back to the path of European titles.

In his career, the Portuguese coach has had successful stints at Chelsea, Inter Milan, where he also won a UCL, and Manchester United, with which he won the Europa League.

José Mourinho's last job was as coach of Fenerbahçe, a club he left on August 29, 2025.

This was the second job he ended in four years. Before the Turkish giant, the Portuguese had managed Tottenham, without success, and Roma, where he won the Conference League in 2022 and reached the Europa League final in 2023, but was dismissed in January 2024 after a negative streak.

Lage dismissed after Champions League stumble

The negotiation for Mourinho comes right after the departure of Bruno Lage, former coach of Botafogo.

The Portuguese coach could not withstand the 3-2 comeback defeat to Qarabag from Azerbaijan, at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, in the opening round of the Champions League league phase.

The result was considered disastrous by the management and accelerated the change in technical command.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA - AFP or licensors