Mourinho rules himself out of Everton running
Martin Macdonald
- 21 Jan 2022 09:40 GMT
- 3 min read
Jose Mourinho will not take over as manager of Everton after the Portuguese committed himself to Roma.
Everton are currently looking for a new manager after the ill-fated tenure of Rafael Benitez.
The Spaniard was already on the backfoot before he even started the job at Goodison Park due to his links with Liverpool, and eventually oversaw a worrying dip in form that ultimately cost him his job, with Everton currently down in 16th.
Duncan Ferguson will take temporary charge of the team for this weekend's clash against Aston Villa, after which the club will step up their recruitment efforts for a new boss.
Mourinho emerged as one of the favourites to take over, but Everton will need to look elsewhere following his recent comments.
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When asked about the rumours following a 3-1 Coppa Italia victory over Lecce, the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man Utd boss said:
“In terms of emotion, passion, empathy, of being happy working with Roma, I say I am 11 out of 10. I am truly, very, very happy to be at a club where I feel the people trust me. I couldn’t be happier than this.
“In football terms, playing to finish between fourth and eighth place is obviously not what I want, but this is a moment of a different project for me and we will be better off next season.
“I won’t deny in the first half I did feel frustrated, as our performance was horrible. Having said that, I am happy right now and would not change this Roma project for any other.
“I gave my word for these three years and I will not leave before the three years are up. This is my project too.”
Who else has been linked with Everton?
Everton just can't seem to get a managerial appointment right, as in recent years the club has failed with various different bosses including Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva.
Carlo Ancelotti steadied the ship ever-so-slightly but not enough that his tenure could be called a success, while he left for Real Madrid anyway.
Several names have been linked with the vacant post currently including Wayne Rooney, Graham Potter, Lucien Favre, Frank Lampard and Fabio Cannavaro.
At the moment, the bookies' favourite to take over remains Rooney, who is currently impressing at Derby in the Championship.
