Jose Mourinho says ambition is to ‘feel the heat’ at Fenerbahce (Getty)
Jose Mourinho aimed a dig at Tottenham and Roma by claiming that Fenerbahce have more ‘ambition’ during his unveiling on Monday.
The 61-year-old had been out of management since January after being sacked by Roma but has made his return to this season’s runners-up in the Turkish Super Lig.
Mourinho also had a lucrative offer to join Al-Qadisiyah, who have secured promotion to the Saudi Pro League, but he opted to make the move to Fenerbahce after being convinced by a presentation made by the club’s hierarchy.
‘The document is real and the document, their document, goes a little bit against what is normally the nature,’ Mourinho said at his debut press conference in Istanbul.
‘The nature normally in a meeting is the coach presenting a document to the club, the coach trying to show the club that his ideas are their ideas.
‘This time it worked the opposite way, it was a club document that they made for me to try to explain to me what the club was.
‘The social dimension of the club was something that I knew, I even played against Fenerbahce when I was at Manchester United, so I knew but the level of organisation of a certain project had an impact on me.’
Jose Mourinho with Fenerbahce president Ali Koc (Reuters)
Mourinho then took aim at two of his former sides – Tottenham and Roma – by suggesting that Fenerbahce are a more ambitious club and that he worked ‘miracles’ during his last stints in the Premier League and Serie A.
‘Then comes the second part of it – what is ambition and what is a safe place and comfortability,’ Mourinho said.
‘My house is in London, to have a London club to fight to be six, seventh, eighth, ninth, and to try to make a miracle and qualify for the Europa League – is that ambition?
‘Everybody knows I love Italy, to have a team in Italy where you have to make a miracle to win a European competition, and you stay always between fifth, sixth and seventh, is that ambition just because I love Italy?
‘To be in Portugal, to be at home, to visit my mum every day, is that ambition?
Jose Mourinho was greeted by thousands of Fenerbahce fans at the weekend (AFP via Getty)
‘Ambition is to play to win, ambition is to feel the heat, ambition is to feel the pressure of having to win every match if you want to be champion and this is the reality of Fenerbahce.
‘For me, Fenerbahce means ambition, they have a project as a club, now I have to say we have a project as a club, our fans have their dreams and that for me to accept it means ambition, means I’m not in my comfort zone and if I could start training tomorrow and if I could play next weekend I would start tomorrow and play at the weekend.
‘So the project had an impact on me and now is my time to have an impact on the project.’
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