"I am not happy enough to enjoy" – Jose Mourinho seeks return to management

Jose Mourinho says he misses management and still has the "fire" to continue at the highest level of the game.

The Portuguese has been out of work since his sacking by Manchester United last December.

And although he has received a number of offers to return to management in recent months, the three-time Premier League champion is content to remain patient and wait for the right job to come up.

"This is basically the first time I have time to think, the first time I am in Setubal at the end of July or beginning of August in more than 20 years," Mourinho told Sky Sports.

"I have some time to think, to rethink, to analyse and what I feel is exactly that 'Ze' (his nickname as a boy) is full of fire.

"My friends tell me 'enjoy your time, enjoy your July, enjoy your August, enjoy what you never had'. Honestly, I can't enjoy. I am not happy enough to enjoy.

"I miss my football, I have the fire, I have a compromise with myself, with people that love me, with so many fans that I have around the world, so many people that I inspired.

"Ze has to be Ze and Ze until the last day, but I don't see the last day because my next move will be like the start! I don't feel it's just one more year in accumulation of how many years I've worked, how many titles I've won. That is history, that is the museum.

"My future will start in my next move and, as I was saying, it looks a little bit ridiculous with so many beautiful things around me and so many things I didn't [have] for so many years, but I can't really enjoy my free time."

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).