Sérgio Krithinas on Mourinho to Benfica: no deal yet | OneFootball

Benfica's defeat against Qarabag on Tuesday night, September 16, was decisive for the dismissal of Bruno Lage, a decision announced by Rui Costa hours after the setback. Sérgio Krithinas, executive director of the newspaper Record, revealed the details of Rui Costa's deal with José Mourinho, who is being pointed to as Lage's successor at the Eagles.

"25 years later, José Mourinho is very close to returning to Benfica. The Portuguese coach, who left Fenerbahçe just a few weeks ago, is Rui Costa's favorite and chosen one to replace Bruno Lage after the defeat to Qarabag," Sérgio Krithinas began by saying.

Next, the sports journalist confirmed that negotiations are already underway and that an announcement is expected soon: "José Mourinho has already started negotiations with Benfica, there are contacts and conversations, but there is still no final agreement. It is very likely that this will happen in the next few hours or, at the latest, by Thursday or Friday. Rui Costa announced that he wants to have a new coach on the bench against AVS SAD, the new coach Rui Costa has in mind is José Mourinho and, therefore, negotiations will surely move forward in the coming hours."

As for the terms of José Mourinho's contract, Sérgio Krithinas admits that there are still details to be defined: "The terms of the contract still need to be defined, namely its duration. It remains to be seen whether it will be a contract until the end of this season with some kind of option, or a longer contract than that. It also remains to be seen whether there will be any kind of release clause that would allow José Mourinho or Benfica to terminate the contract in case there is a new president after the elections scheduled for October 25."

Finally, the sports commentator also drew a parallel with Mourinho's first stint at Luz: "Curiously, the first time José Mourinho coached Benfica, he also found the club in a pre-election period. He was hired by Vale e Azevedo, who would lose the elections about a month and a half after hiring José Mourinho. This meant that the coach had to work with the elected Manuel Vilarinho, and that coexistence lasted only about a month and a half, two months, when José Mourinho left after a 3-0 victory over Sporting, demanding that Manuel Vilarinho renew his contract. Let's see if history repeats itself, there are many common factors."

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