Jose Mourinho has twice been hired and fired by Chelsea during his career and could have a third stint at Stamford Bridge with current boss Mauricio Pochettino seeing his job in jeopardy

Chelsea could be on the hunt for a new manager sooner rather than later with Mauricio Pochettino under huge pressure.

The Argentine has underwhelmed during his debut campaign with the Blues. Chelsea sit ninth in the Premier League following a 5-0 thumping at the hands of London rivals Arsenal.

Candidates to replace him are already being speculated on by fans. One man that supporters have already championed is former boss Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese previously enjoyed two hugely successful stints at Stamford Bridge and has not totally ruled out yet another return. Take a look at everything Mourinho has said so far...

'Not about us'

Mourinho was first asked about a third stint in West London back in 2019. The Portuguese was a pundit during Liverpool's Champions League final success against future employers Tottenham.

He was asked whether another stint with Chelsea could be on the cards but kept his cards close to his chest. Mourinho replied: "We are not here to speak about it. We are here to speak about this and not about us."

'Chelsea is the past'

Mourinho’s links with Chelsea continued even after he had been appointed as Pochettino's replacement at Tottenham. At the time, there were concerns that he was too loyal to the Blues.

Mourinho quickly allayed those fears by suggesting that his time with Chelsea was consigned to the history books. He said: "That was before I was sacked! That's modern football."

The two-time European champion added: "I can be really happy here [with Tottenham], make people happy and there’s not a bigger, let’s say fan than me in the world who wants Spurs to win and be successful. Maybe the same as me, but not more than me. So Chelsea is the past, a great past, two periods, two periods with titles. But it's the past."

'Chelsea will always be Chelsea'

Mourinho's time with Tottenham lasted just 18 months before being jettisoned by the North London side. He was not out of work for very long. The Portuguese was snapped up by Roma in July 2021. Just a year later, he once again expressed his affection for the Blues.

He said: "If you ask me do I have somebody that I would love to take over from 'my Chelsea' let's say that, yes, but I have but I close my mouth."

"The club reached such a level that it doesn't matter who it's with but Chelsea will always be Chelsea. Chelsea will always be big and my house will always be 200 metres away from the stadium so I want to keep listening to the sound of happiness and success. I'm pretty sure it's going to be like that."

The 61-year-old doubled down on that claim shortly after by suggesting he would always have an affinity for the Blues. Mourinho added: "Of course, my English connection is Chelsea. That's the way I see things, as a Chelsea man after two periods of Chelsea and six years."

'Chelsea is not the Chelsea we know'

Despite regularly expressing his love for the Blues, it appeared that Mourinho ruled out the prospect of working for the club's current owners in a conversation with a fan. A supporter asked the Portuguese to return to Stamford Bridge when bumping into him.

However, Mourinho did not seem particularly enthused at working for Todd Boehly. He replied: "Thank you my friend, but Chelsea is not the Chelsea we know."

'The only thing I want'

Away from direct questions about Chelsea, Mourinho has recently confirmed what his demands would be for his next job. He had previously been linked with a move to Newcastle, as well as a lucrative switch to Saudi Arabia.

"It is not like I am afraid of jobs [with clubs] not ‘made to win it’. When some [managers] have reached a certain level maybe they say, ‘I will only get jobs made to win it,'" Mourinho revealed. "It is my job to try to make clubs into those ‘made to win it’, or to reach some objectives.

“The only thing I want is that the targets and the objectives have to be established by everyone in a fair way. I cannot go to a club where, because of my history, the objective is to win the title. No. The only thing I want is that it has to be fair.

“Do you think if I was at a big Premier League club and we were sixth, seventh, eighth, in the table, I still have a job? What I am saying is people [should] look at me the way they look at others.

“What is important for me is if the club has objectives and for me to be able to say I am ready to fight for these. I don’t want to say realistic, but [at least] semi-realistic. Because when I went to Roma nobody was dreaming about European Cup finals and we did it. It’s not possible I go to a club almost relegated and the objective is to win the Champions League. It’s good but it is not fair.”