José Mourinho, new coach of Roma

AS Roma announced this afternoon that José Mourinho, recently fired from Tottenham due to poor results, will be the next coach of the

.

The news has fallen like a bomb in Italy, where no one suspected that it could be an addition to the Roman team.

The first clue, however, was given by the Portuguese himself a few days ago, when he said that he loved Inter Milan - the team with which he won a treble - but would not hesitate for a second to coach a rival Italian club if they called him .

Something that, probably, had already happened.

Roma had announced today that their current coach, Paulo Fonseca, would not continue to lead the team next season.

The team, owned by the American Friedkin family, has reaped a disappointing new season in Serie A (it is seventh, 27 points behind the leader and already winner of the

, Inter Milan).

In the UEFA League, where the club had generated great anticipation by qualifying for the semi-final against Manchester, they conceded a 6-2 home run last week and blew up their only remaining hope to save the season.

This year marks two decades of the last

that Roma won, when Fabio Capello was in charge of the team. Since then, the team has plunged into a process of sporting melancholy in which it has barely managed to lift two Italian Cups and one Super Cup. A meager track record that contrasts bitterly with the million-dollar investments that the team has made and with the passion that the team raises among its fans. Mourinho himself has already commented on his signing: “I thank the Friedkin family for choosing me to lead this great club. I immediately understood how much ambition this society has. That aspiration and that drive have always motivated me and together we want to build a winning path. The incredible passion of the Roma fans has convinced me to accept the assignment and I can't wait to start the next season. "

Mourinho, architect of the last glorious period of Inter Milan, with which he managed to get the Lombard team to raise a Champions League again, is now called to put order and restore hunger to a club too accustomed to defeat.

However, the Portuguese's latest experiences at the helm of teams such as Manchester United or Tottenham have ended with the powerful visiting card that Mourinho exhibited after an era of triumphs at the head of teams such as Porto, Chelsea or even the Real Madrid.

Roma have signed a contract with the coach that links them to Roma until June 30, 2024.

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