New Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has opened up on how he has tried to goad Dele Alli this week back into form, explained his job title and also how he tried to sign Lucas Moura.

Mourinho has frequently been linked with Tottenham Hotspur players over the years while at Manchester United and Chelsea, but when asked which he had actually tried to sign he would only reveal one.

"I am not telling the ones recently, I go further back. Lucas, when he was at Sao Paulo, before he was transferred to Paris Saint Germain. I tried to get him to Real Madrid," he admitted.

"I met his mum, I met his dad, I met his agent, we spoke in Madrid, but Paris Saint Germain came into the picture and we didn’t get him. It’s just an example that I say because it was a long time ago, but some others recently, and some others we don’t even think about buying, because we know it’s the impossible thing to do. So you just admire the player, wish to have him, but forget about it."

One of those players is Harry Kane, who former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte admitted he tried but failed to sign.

Jose Mourinho's first Spurs press conference in full

"I think he was wasting his time, because I think as managers we must have also this feeling of what is possible, what is not possible and I think when you try to buy Kane it’s just an impossible mission," he said.

"He’s one of the best strikers in the world, no doubt. He just needs his team with him, if his team is England or if his team is Tottenham, he just needs his team to bring him, or to go with him to the next level.

Show Player

"What is the next level? Titles. I think he needs to win, with us, with England, he needs to bring something to highlight the quality that he has as a player. The goals he scores, what he brings to the team. Top striker and I've worked with some of the top ones."

Keeping Kane at the club could be vital to whether Spurs and Mourinho succeed going forward but the new head coach says it's on the club to ensure the England captain remains in north London.

"This is not about me. This is about Mr Levy, this is about the club. He has a vision, and part of that vision is to make the club better, bigger," he explained.

"There is no better and bigger football club without a bigger and better football team. So to keep the best players is obviously part of that plan. It is nothing new with me.

"It was not like a promise to me, it was not like I said ‘I only go if, I only go if’, there were no ‘ifs’. It was him [Levy], part of his explanation about his vision for the club. That without being specific about the players, he told me he does not sell players when the manager does not want to sell."

Another star player at the club in recent years has been Dele Alli, but the 23-year-old has struggled with hamstring problems and his form in the past year.

This week a fake tweet surfaced on the internet - it contained more than the 140-character limit for a start - claiming to be a post from Alli in 2012 slamming Mourinho.

"It looks like it was a fake. But if it was not fake? (shrugs shoulders). I will tell you a story. When I changed from Unao de Lena to Porto mid-season, I had played against Porto a couple of weeks earlier," he remembered.

"One of the players – and I have no problems saying his name because he laughs about this all the time – was Deco. For 90 minutes, I insulted him and he insulted me. Big, big insults. We insulted each other for 90 minutes.

"Then a couple of weeks later, I walked into the [Porto] dressing room and he had his head down on his hands. I went there and we talked.

"If it had been true about Dele, I would be happy about that."

Mourinho admitted that he had wound up Alli this week in a good natured way when he spoke to him on the training pitches.

"I have already spoken with him and I asked him if he was Dele or Dele’s brother," he revealed. "He told me he was Dele. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Play like Dele’.

"I think he is potentially a fantastic player. Now I have to create a tactical situation he is happy with, give him the right dynamics and prepare him physically well because he has had important injuries and he is not on the top of his form.

"I cannot expect him to play on Saturday – if he plays – and go there and be man of the match, but he needs to go through a process that will bring the real Dele back because the real Dele is the one who in the last few years has impressed us all."

Mourinho comes across as a changed man after his miserable spell in Manchester and has spoken about adapting his plans to fit Tottenhams as well as recognising mistakes he has made in the past and learning from them.

Having spent 11 months out of the game spent analysing his career and working out a new philosophy going forward, he was asked if had reinvented himself.

"I don’t go as far. I’m not reinventing myself. You know, I thought about my career, I thought about my evolution," he said.

"I try to define new targets for my career. I was very selective. I had to say no many, many times to a few clubs, good clubs with some very interesting projects, but I always thought to myself I have to be strong enough to wait for something that really motivates me, because one thing is the passion you have for football, but another thing is to feel that you have you have the right challenge, the right situation in your hands ahead of you. And this was something that really motivates me."

On whether his tactical vision for Tottenham had been dictated to him by chairman Daniel Levy, in playing football in a certain way, he added: "You know, the fans they must be happy. The players they must be happy, and I must be also happy. This is a process.

"One thing is the end product, another thing is the moment you start. I’m going to try - I’m not going to open the door for you - I’m going to try to make some tactical tweaks, if you can say that, not incredible changes.

"I’m not going now to try to be Einstein, but I’m going to try to make the players play the way I want them to play. Offensive football, yes, but winning matches, not offensive football and don’t win a match for 10 or 11 months. But yes, attacking football. You are not going to see Harry Kane playing left-back, that’s for sure!"

(Image: Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Eyebrows were raised when Mourinho was given the job title of head coach rather than manager but he scoffed at the suggestion that that meant anything major.

"No. What is the head coach? Manager? Manager was 20 years ago. I think I honestly tell you, the people that now are called managers - which managers? In modern football? Manager?" he said.

It was pointed out that his predecessor Pochettino was a manager, but had said this season that he felt like a head coach.

"In the title [he was manager]? Come on, but what's the title? I don't care about the title. I'm saying in reality, who is the manager of any football club?" asked Mourinho.

"You think there are many managers? Not many modern managers. You know, we are part of a structure. We don't work alone. We need other people, you have scouting departments. It depends on the way the club is structured. You have you have assets to develop, you have a structure in the club, you have a president or CEO.

"There are many ways clubs are organised. But what I am is the head coach. Nobody will decide which team is going to play. Nobody's going to decide when I'm going to train. Nobody is going to decide when I give a day off. That's my responsibility. But if you think in modern football, that you are the whole all-powerful, you are in trouble.

"You are not just in trouble, you are not going to be fair with the club. You know? The clubs, the good clubs, they have good structures, good structures."

Mourinho was asked what the realistic ambitions were for him and Tottenham in the seasons ahead.

"At the moment, I am only thinking about West Ham and Olympiacos. I will try to win against West Ham and try to qualify for the Champions League next round," he said.

Show more

"I am only focusing on this, but with the squad we have and the quality of the whole structure of the club, I think we can have the same ambitions as they have at clubs that are bigger than us.

"I don’t want my players to fear anything. We go for everything against everybody and we can win."