Will he join Cristiano? One of the richest soccer coaches wants to go to Saudi Arabia

In December 2022 the world soccer map changed forever. Cristiano Ronaldo decided to leave Manchester United because of his bad relationship with coach Erik Ten Hag and, despite having offers from top clubs in Europe, he chose to make an unexpected move and agreed to join Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr in exchange for an impressive salary of over $200 million a year.

From there, many other stars decided to follow suit and left Europe to accept multi-million dollar offers from Pro League clubs. Karim Benzema, with a salary similar to CR7's, left Real Madrid and agreed to join Al-Ittihad alongside N'Golo Kanté; Neymar Junior chose Al-Hilal after his departure from Paris Saint-Germain and Riyad Mahrez swapped Manchester City for Al-Ahli. In addition, other top players joined Cristiano at Al-Nassr, such as Marcelo Brozovic, Sadio Mané and Aymeric Laporte.

But Saudi Arabian clubs are not only interested in players: they have also signed top coaches to whom they pay fortunes, such as Jorge Jesus, Steven Gerrard and Marcelo Gallardo. And in the near future they are likely to add one of the best managers in the world: José Mourinho.

The Portuguese coach has managed several of Europe's top clubs, including Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter, Manchester United and Tottenham. He is now at AS Roma, but he is already thinking about what he will do next. In an interview with Rai1, he said: "I think one day I will join Saudi Pro League. I think I will go and coach there, yes". However, he then clarified: "But that day won't be tomorrow or after tomorrow".

He has other options

José Mourinho was also asked about his possible arrival at Real Madrid to replace Carlo Ancelotti, in case the Italian coach leaves for the Brazilian national team. On this, 'Mou' said: "Re-joining Real Madrid to replace Ancelotti? Florentino is super smart. He already has a super manager, why thinking of another? I'm Madridista and I hope Ancelotti will stay there. He's the perfect coach for Real Madrid."