Treforest, a small town in the Welsh valleys, strikes as an unusual place for Jose Mourinho’s new No 2 to have begun his coaching education. Aside from being the birthplace to Sir Tom Jones, there is little much else to write home about.



But for Joao Sacramento, it represented the start to a pursuit of a career at the highest level. And he was unafraid to leave his comfort zone to take it.



As an 18-year-old, Sacramento moved from Portugal to Treforest to study at the University of Glamorgan — as it was named then — because its football course was one of only a few offering such bespoke tutoring in Europe.



He wasn’t there for the cosmopolitan lifestyle. One contemporary student tells The Athletic: “It’s literally the start of a valley. When I first moved there my mum said, ‘Where are we?’”



Sacramento’s progression from undergrad in south Wales to jobs at Monaco and Lille —...