Jose Mourinho fired up for new adventure

Mourinho, 58, on Friday officially began work with the Giallorossi in the latest move of an illustrious career that has seen him achieve success at the likes of Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and cement his reputation as one of the finest coaches in the history of the sport.

The Portuguese finally landed in the Italian capital on Friday afternoon – but revealed how he has already been working on his plans for the upcoming campaign for some time.

“I have been excited since the first day. And I really mean it, since the first day,” Mourinho told asroma.com.

“Since the first day I met the owners and Tiago [Pinto, the club’s General Manager] and I had immediately this very positive feeling. So since Day 1, I have been looking forward to ‘the real Day 1’ - which is the first day that I arrive in Rome.”

He added: “I have been doing a lot of preparation. I cannot share, I don’t want to share – but [I have been doing] a lot. That’s my job! I need to know the maximum I can. We have been doing lots of meetings and having lots of conversations and already trying to change some things in the club so that when we arrive at Trigoria the space is more adapted to our ideas and our needs.

“The club is super open, everyone is super open to try to co-operate with us.”

The announcement that Mourinho would become the club’s new coach took the football world by storm when it became public in May.

The revelation was greeted with special enthusiasm by Giallorossi supporters, as tributes, graffiti and artworks popped up all around the capital.

Mourinho acknowledged that he had seen some of that reaction thanks to social media, and that it would only provide further motivation as he looks to help the club build to a brighter future.

“The way people reacted… I don’t think I deserve that,” he said. “Because I did nothing for them [yet].

“Of course, I was emotional, I was pleased, grateful. Of course, there is even more responsibility on my shoulders to try not to let the people with that passion down.

“I can only say that what they did for me, before I did something for them – because I did nothing for them yet – I can only be extra motivated to work.”

While the passion of the supporters will fuel Mourinho going forward, it was the preliminary conversations with the club’s owners, Dan and Ryan Friedkin, that first persuaded the world-famous boss that this was the right opportunity for him.

“I left our [initial] conversation with the feeling that this is not the Friedkins’ project, this is not a Jose Mourinho project, this is not a Tiago Pinto project - this is an AS Roma project,” he said.

“That was my feeling. And that is something that I was really impressed about.

“We want to make a Roma of success, but a future of success – not an isolated moment of success. We want to do something sustainable.

“And I am ready for that. I am enthusiastic about it. I want to accelerate the process – of course, you know what you are doing is for the future, but it is not in my nature to wait too long for that smiling future to arrive. So I want to try to accelerate the process.

“And hopefully, all together, we can make that happen as soon as possible.”