Jose Mourinho has lived in many of Europe’s most glamorous cities but now wants to make London his permanent home.

Over the past 18 years, Mourinho has grown accustomed to packing his bags and finding new adventures in places such as Barcelona, Milan and Madrid. Yet, having returned to the capital in the summer he hopes to stay for good.

With a CV boasting two Champions League trophies, one UEFA Cup and seven League titles, he is one of the most respected coaches in the game.

But when Chelsea came calling again, Mourinho did not hesitate to go back to the club where he enjoyed such success between 2004 and 2007.

The cynics have speculated how long the love affair between himself and owner Roman Abramovich will last, given that their deteriorating relationship played a role in his departure seven years ago.

Mourinho has never been at a club for more than three years, adding to the suspicion that he will be leaving sooner rather than later.

But as we meet at the club’s training ground in Cobham for his first extended interview, the 50-year-old is clearly a settled man in familiar surroundings and determined to stay at Chelsea for the long term.

“I’m not here thinking about my next move because I don’t want to have a next move,” he said. “I will have a next move if and when Chelsea decides it’s time for that.

“I’m not chasing new experiences, trying to find where I like it more, where I can make new things for my career — no. It’s a completely different perspective.

“I’m here to stay. I belong to Chelsea, Chelsea belong to me. I gave a lot to Chelsea in the past but they also gave a lot to me. This is a different professional relationship.”

Mourinho’s relaxed demeanour as he talked expansively of his love of Chelsea, London and the English game is a far cry from the tense character often seen during his three years at Real Madrid.

It was no surprise when his departure from the Bernabeu was announced last May and a return to England had already been earmarked by all four members of the Mourinho household. For it is the country where wife Tami, daughter Matilde and son Jose Jr, also felt a special connection with.

He said: “More than one year ago, even before I decided to stay in Madrid for one or two more years, our decision was made. We wanted to go to England next because we feel it’s the best for all four, as a family and me as a professional.

“In this moment there is a lot of maturity in the family. I have a 17-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy. In the beginning of my career it was not so difficult for them to move but they have entered into an age where moving is not easy.

“There was lots of communication and they knew for them that London would be fantastic. A university career is a target for my daughter, my wife just loves the city to live in. We kept our house from last time and, although we tried to hide it, we came lots of times.

“The success I had in my career gave me the possibility to choose my destiny. When I made the decision I didn’t know if Chelsea would be available and if the door would be open but when it did, the picture was perfect for me.”

With Jose Jr attempting to forge a football career of his own after joining Fulham’s Academy in September, the family’s commitment to reside in the city is clear to see.

Naturally, Mourinho senior’s main motivation revolves around his sporting ambitions. However, his improved mood is also because of a pure enjoyment for London itself.

He added: “I’m not a person with a big social life. I just want the simple things in life but even the simple things I lost in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

“I think London is the only place in Europe where I can keep these little things of life. I can go to school and wait for my son and daughter and the parents feel me as another parent.

“I can go to walk on Sloane Street or Old Bond Street and if somebody disturbs me it is not an English person for sure. It’s some tourist that sees me and they can’t control themselves. The English person is much more polite and respectful in relation to the private life of the person.

“I can go to a restaurant, I can go to a cab and the driver be an Arsenal or Tottenham supporter and he enjoys speaking with me. This is not possible in Italy and Spain! I also like the number of clubs in London. The way we have this in London during the week is fantastic. After that you go to the weekend, you play the derbies and everything changes but during the week people live with the different colours in the same city and everything is normal.”

Mourinho is on a four-year contract but the first few months were not as smooth as many expected.

Working with a vastly different, and some would argue inferior, squad than he had first time around, Chelsea suffered surprise defeats by Everton, Newcastle and Stoke in the Premier League, as well as shock reverses against Basle both home and away in the Champions League group stages.

Mourinho’s opponents questioned whether he really was ‘special’ any more.

Given that he has won 14 major trophies at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real, one wonders what gives him the motivation to continue managing and making himself a target for the critics.

“Lots of things drive me,” he said. “First of all I want to enjoy my life and football is part of that. My wife knows that, my kids know that. From them there is not one bit of talk that one day you have to retire. It’s the opposite. Sometimes in a funny way they imagine me as an old man still being a manager. They know I want to do it for a long time. I love the day-to-day of football, more than that I love the game, more than that I love the big game.

“People used to say that Michael Schumacher — and as I talk about this, it’s about being respectful of the person — couldn’t live without Formula One. He couldn’t live without the race, the adrenalin impulse. So when he’s not driving, he is jumping from helicopters and skiing. Now I have brought his name into the picture, I want to say how I hope in the next few days he’s safe. But maybe with me it’s the same in football. Football is an important part of my life. I always want to do it at the top. I don’t want to do it where one day I relax, go to an easy job or a country where my club is the best by far, without any kind of problem.

“If I want to relax one day a national team is the best job but, no, I want to be where I am.”

Despite some teething problems, Chelsea have entered the second half of the campaign with a good chance of winning the league and in the last 16 of the Champions League.

No side have accrued more points from losing positions in the top flight this term than Chelsea, with Mourinho’s substitutions and tactical changes a major factor in setting that record.

When he led the club to the championship in 2005 and 2006, he had a plethora of quality and experienced players and a free-spending Abramovich to back him at every turn.

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Now he has a different task with veterans from that period such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole in the latter stages of their career and younger talent such as Eden Hazard and Oscar yet to reach their full potential.

“I’m enjoying this challenge,” he said. “It’s a different challenge from before. The other one was to win for the first time, there was the impact of a new foreign owner that was something new in English football and world football. Now it is a different perspective.

“I have different people at different stages of their careers in my hands. You never know how they will react.

“I didn’t know where John, Frank, Ashley and the other senior players were. I didn’t know if I could recover their their motivation to play at the top, their understanding of the importance they have in the squad, in the club, even if they’re not the players that can play 50-60 games a season any more.

“The new players have come from different countries and all of them are young people. Willian never played at a top European club; Andre Schurrle came from a club [Bayer Leverkusen] not fighting for titles; it’s Oscar’s second season but physically he’s still getting used to English football.

“Many people told me Chelsea supporters will expect me to do the same as before. I was never worried about that. I was sure about people’s trust.

“In the same way people know I built a Chelsea team that lasted seven-eight years and was in place to fight for titles even after my departure, I know that I’m going to do the same [this time].

“People trust me and I like that feeling. People know I am one of them so they know that my happiness in the good moments is more than a normal manager and my sadness is more, too.”

Taking a quick glance into his office at Cobham, photos of some of his greatest triumphs at Chelsea adorn the wall, including pictures of his children on the Stamford Bridge pitch with the Premier League trophy.

Clearly a repeat of such a happy moment is on his mind. “We are there and fighting for the top positions, we will see if we can fight for the title,” he said.

“It’s important we do because it accelerates the development of the players, it brings to their lives something new, to have the responsibility of having to win every game.

“Normally I’d say the second and third seasons together are the best ones. But it is Chelsea’s mentality, my DNA, to try to challenge now.”

Mourinho is certainly back and London, as well as Chelsea, stand to benefit.

Jose Mourinho is supporting the Chelsea Foundation which is dedicated to providing football to support communities at home and abroad. The Foundation engages and inspires more than 750,000 people of all ages and backgrounds each year, promoting health, education and social inclusion. chelseafc.com/foundation