Jose Mourinho has two pictures from his Manchester United reign hanging in his new Tottenham Hotspur office, one of him with the Europa League trophy and the other holding the Carabao Cup. The message to those who enter is that Mourinho was a winner at Old Trafford and he was keen to echo that ahead of his first managerial return to his former club.

It may not have been the Premier League title or the Champions League, but Mourinho insists that his two-and-a-half-years at United were a success and that he will not go back with Tottenham on Wednesday night as a “villain” or an “enemy.”

He claims to have been happy at United and justified living in the Lowry Hotel for the duration of his time in Manchester by saying that he would have been “unhappy” in a house where he would have been forced to live on sausages and fried eggs - the two foods he can cook.

“About my history there, go to my office upstairs and I still have a couple of pictures of my Manchester United time,” said Mourinho. “One with the Europa League and my son in Stockholm, and one with Carabao Cup at the top of Wembley. Of course, they are my most cherished memories.