Jamie Carragher reveals what Jose Mourinho told him after losing Chelsea job

Carragher doesn't expect to see Mourinho at United next season

Darragh Murphy

Jamie Carragher reveals what Jose Mourinho told him after losing Chelsea job

Jose Mourinho has a battle ahead of him. That much is clear.

Mourinho’s immediate challenge is in the Manchester United dressing room because he will need to begin to orchestrate some respectable performances in order to defend his reputation as one of the world’s top managers.

The United boss will then face the fight to establish himself as the right man for the job, with a reported schism growing between Mourinho and the club’s board.

And if Mourinho is relieved of his duties at Old Trafford, Mourinho will be met with one hell of a rebuilding process.

Jamie Carragher believes that the next few months will be defining ones in Mourinho’s career and while the Liverpool legend suggested that the 55-year-old could possibly take inspiration from Sir Alex Ferguson and turn his current struggles around, he admitted that he doesn’t expect Mourinho to be in the United dugout this time next season.

Writing in his Telegraph column, Carragher said: “If Mourinho leaves United at some stage this season – and I do believe they will have a new coach a year from now – what big job can he expect next? Of course he will still be one of the world’s most esteemed and coveted coaches, but his next club position would have to be in the tier just below the current elite. He would have to go somewhere seeking to rebuild, trying to catch-up, rather than one where the foundations are in place and he can target the world’s most expensive players.

“No other team in the Premier League’s top six would pursue him. Real Madrid and Barcelona are no longer realistic options, nor Juventus. I don’t believe PSG would take him at the moment.”

Mourinho has a reputation for losing players’ confidence after a couple of seasons at each club and there appears to be a few power struggles currently taking place in his dressing room at Old Trafford.

Paul Pogba’s relationship with his manager looks set to become a running soap opera while Mourinho has admitted that he was forced to fine Anthony Martial this summer.

Recalling a conversation with Mourinho after he lost the Chelsea job for a second time, Carragher suggested that the Portuguese anticipated that a change in players’ attitudes would trouble managers in the coming years.

“Mourinho once told me after losing his job at Chelsea how he could see how management was evolving, players no longer receptive or tolerant to criticism even behind closed doors,” Carragher revealed. “Power has eroded even for the most formidable of managers.

“It may offer a clue as to the problem he has now, in a dressing room with an ego the size of Paul Pogba’s, who like so many modern players (see Yaya Toure when he was at Manchester City) embarrassingly seems more interested in being loyal to his agent than the club he captains. We know what Ferguson would do. He got rid of Pogba when he was a teenager because he knew it was more hassle than the talent was worth. He will not be surprised by the recent turn of events.”