Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho had agreed to become the manager of Liverpool in 2004 according to a book soon to be released.
Mourinho, having just won the Champions League with Porto, was a hot property in the market and teams across Europe were scrambling for his signature.
Serialized by The Metro, The book ‘Mourinho: Behind the Special One, from the origin to the glory’, detailed how the Portuguese nearly went to Anfield; this according to the coach’s former special advisor, Jorge Baidek.
“Mourinho should have gone to Liverpool. Rick Parry (then chief executive) was in charge of transfers and we had an agreement. They asked us to wait for 15 days as Houllier was still the Reds’ manager,” said Baidek.
The summer of 2004 was, however, to take a turn with Liverpool going for Rafa Benitez while Mourinho crossed over to Chelsea.
Mourinho arrived at Chelsea after the Blues sacked Claudio Ranieri after a second-place finish in Roman Abramovich’s debut season.
Liverpool hired Benitez after Houllier couldn’t get his team back on track; The Spanish manager arriving after leading Valencia to two La Liga titles.
According to the book, Jorge Mendes hadn’t been involved with the Liverpool discussions but he alerted Chelsea and Mourinho to a possibility and a more lucrative offer.