TEAMtalk takes an in-depth look at five destinations for one of the most successful coaches in the modern game Jose Mourinho next season.

Out of work but rarely out of the headlines, Mourinho has spoken recently of what he requires of his next club.

The former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager feels he has become a victim of his own past success.

“The only thing I want is that the targets and the objectives have to be established by everyone in a fair way,” he told The Telegraph. “I cannot go to a club where, because of my history, the objective is to win the title.”

Mourinho’s last post was with Roma, where he won the inaugural UEFA Conference League in 2021-22 and reached the Europa League final the following season. He was sacked in January after two and a half years in charge at the Stadio Olimpico, with Roma ninth in Serie A at the time.

He may no longer guarantee success at the highest level the way he once did, but Mourinho is still a box-office manager whose availability will interest many top clubs.

Here are five potential next destinations for the self-proclaimed Special One…

Chelsea

Tuesday evening’s 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal was the latest – and perhaps greatest – embarrassing moment in what has been a rough season for free-spending Chelsea.

Speculation over Mauricio Pochettino’s Stamford Bridge future was already rife before the humbling hammering at the Emirates. Pressure on the Argentinian manager’s position has only increased in light of the result, which left Chelsea ninth in the table.

If the Blues decide to move on from Pochettino this summer, Mourinho’s name will inevitably be linked with a return for a third spell in charge in west London.

A cult hero at the club for delivering its first two Premier League titles when he arrived in England off the back of taking Porto to Champions League glory in 2004, Mourinho won a third title in his second spell.

Both his previous stints at the Stamford Bridge helm ended in acrimony and amid controversy and poor on-field results. But the equation prospective Mourinho employers have always had to ponder is whether the success he usually attains is worth the inevitable fallout.

As his efficacy has diminished in recent years, Chelsea and other clubs with lofty ambitions may no longer feel he is worth that trade-off. Plus, with the Portuguese tactician’s past aversion to developing talent, they might feel his is an imperfect philosophical fit for their expensive young squad.

But it will be 20 years this summer since Mourinho first arrived at Chelsea and announced himself to the wider world as the suave, arrogant ‘Special One’. There would be a fitting symmetry to bringing him back now, exactly two decades on, as the elder statesman to right the wayward ship the Todd Boehly era has become.

Sporting

He is no longer the frontrunner for the soon-to-be-vacant Liverpool job, but Bruno Amorim, Sporting CP’s impressive young coach, seems destined for a new challenge next season.

A return to Portugal to take over at the Estadio Jose Alvalade would allow Mourinho to complete the set when it comes to managing each of the big three clubs in his homeland, having briefly been in charge at Benfica in his first managerial role before later achieving such success with Porto.

It would also be a return to where it all began for Mourinho, whose big break in the game came when he was hired to act as Bobby Robson’s interpreter when the English manager took charge of Sporting in the early 1990s.

It would represent a stark shift in footballing philosophy for Sporting to go from Amorim, a 39-year-old coach with an aggressive, attack-minded style, to 61-year-old Mourinho who is best known for tactical rigidity and a conservative way of playing.

But even at this stage of his career, attracting a manager of Mourinho’s standing in the game would be a huge coup for the Lisbon club.

Newcastle

Hampered by the worst injury record in the Premier League and with financial regulations limiting the spending power of the super-wealthy Saudi owners, the 2023-24 campaign has seen Eddie Howe and Newcastle take a step back in their plans to establish a side ready to compete for titles.

The Magpies finished fourth last term to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. This season, they are seventh in the Premier League and were eliminated from Europe’s top club competition at the group stage.

Howe appears to have enough credit in the bank to at least be given another season to see whether he can kickstart Newcastle’s progress. But if the club’s owners grow impatient and seek a change, Mourinho would make sense on a number of levels.

Firstly, his initial Chelsea spell saw him inspire the similarly newly rich Blues to Premier League dominance. And for most of his career he has operated in the echelons to which Newcastle aspire, shopping in the transfer market with the kind of budget the owners can provide.

Marseille

Despite regular links to the Paris Saint-Germain job down the years, Mourinho has never managed in France.

With PSG having already secured the Ligue 1 title this season and preparing to take on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals, manager Luis Enrique’s position is unlikely to come under threat any time soon.

One potential opening that could entice Mourinho to France, however, is PSG’s bitter rivals Marseille.

L’OM have not long changed managers, with Gennaro Gattuso sacked in February and replaced by 70-year-old Jean-Louis Gasset.

But after an initial brief uptick under the veteran former Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux boss, Marseille have now gone five league games without a victory and sit eighth in the table.

Talking over at the spectacular Stade Velodrome would offer Mourinho a new challenge on a big stage.

MLS

The current betting favourite for Mourinho’s next destination is ‘any Saudi Pro League club’. The burgeoning, cash-rich league would surely jump at the chance to bring in a manager of his pedigree and name value.

But a move to Major League Soccer is more likely to stoke Mourinho’s competitive fires.

Storylines would abound for the Portuguese coach if he arrived Stateside, where he could face off against Lionel Messi once again, reigniting the bitter Real Madrid-Barcelona clashes of his time at the Bernabeu.

Mourinho could even manage Messi. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which Inter Miami moves on from Tata Martino if they don’t achieve their aims of unprecedented success this season. No club value star power more than Miami. No manager offers more star power than Mourinho.

And while the league continues to focus on attractive big-name European players to draw more eyeballs and garner more credibility, Mourinho’s arrival would be the managerial equivalent.