Jose Mourinho has denied any approach from Paris Saint-Germain about replacing Christophe Galtier as head coach at Parc des Princes next season.
Galtier is under significant pressure at PSG, having seen his team crash out of the Champions League in the first knockout round, prolonging the club’s unfulfilled search for European glory even more.
PSG have also fallen short in the Coupe de France. And while another Ligue 1 title looks likely, it certainly hasn’t been as convincing as would have been hoped or expected.
Mourinho, meanwhile, has somewhat resurrected his reputation after things quickly unravelled for him at Manchester United and a spell at Tottenham then ended his impressive of winning at least two trophies at every club he had been at since landing the Porto job in 2002.
The Portuguese moved to Roma in 2021 and finished last season by delivering the inaugural Europa Conference League title. This season, his team find themselves in the Europa League semi-finals and still in contention for a top four finish in Serie A to return to the Champions League.
That and the fact that Mourinho’s long-term ally, Luis Campos, has taken on a football advisor role at PSG over the last 11 months has led to speculation of a reunion in the French capital.
Campos coached against Mourinho in Portugal more than 20 years ago and later worked with him as a scout and analyst at Real Madrid. He has worked extensively in France since then and assembled the Monaco and Lille squads that won Ligue 1 in 2017 and 2021 respectively – the only two clubs to be crowned French champions other than PSG in more than a decade.
But, as far as Mourinho is concerned, PSG need to get in touch if they want him.
“If they looked for me, they didn’t find me, they haven’t reached out to me,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
Galtier, who has a contract with PSG until 2024, is publicly adamant he is staying put.
“I plan to be the coach of Paris Saint-Germain,” he said recently.
“We are working with Luis Campos on building the squad for next season. On the changes we wish to bring to improve the team, to have more variety in our game, be that through a different setup or having a better balance. We have been working on that in the last few weeks.”