Jose Mourinho was in lively from in the beIn Sports studio this evening ahead of the Asian Cup clash between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as he discussed his future, the state of coaching and the state of the world in general.

The subject of Mohamed Salah was also broached, Mourinho was at Chelsea during the Egyptian's unsuccessful stint at Stamford Bridge, and the 55-year-old vehemently denied that he was responsible for the player's exit from the club:

First of all let me start with Salah, lots of things have been told are not true.Tries to identify me as the coach that sold Salah, I am the coach that bought Salah. I played against Basle. Salah was a kid in Basle. I play against a certain team I analyse the team and the players and I fell in love with that kid. I bought the kid. I push the club to buy him. We already had great attacking players in Hazard, Willian, we had top talent there. He was just a lost kid in London, a lost kid in a new world. We wanted to work with him to become better and better, but he wanted to play and not to wait so we decide to put him on loan. When the club decided to sell him, it wasn't me. So I bought him, I didn't sell him! My relationship with him was good, I think he doesn't regret that move. But at that moment he was a young kid with a huge desire to play every week.

"Lots of things have been told that are not true!" Mourinho rubbishes media reports that he sold Mo Salah when at Chelsea.#beINMourinho #beINAFC #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/8DsrPadA8U — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) January 17, 2019

Of course Salah has gone on to be a roaring success at Fiorentina, Roma and now Liverpool, though the fact that Willian and Hazard are still at Chelsea does reveal that Salah leaving the club was the right decision for all parties.


BeIn Sports have tweeted out several clips of Mourinho discussing various topics, and it really does feel like the charm offensive is really being put on as he seeks to get another job at the 'top level':

"I belong to top-level football. That's where I'm going to be." Mourinho isn't ready to retire from the dugout as he looks ahead to his next job!#beINMourinho #beINAFC #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/7pqmG0uHQc — beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) January 17, 2019

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