Jose Mourinho is back! AS Roma announce Mourinho signing

AS Roma have announced that Jose Mourinho will take over at the club next season (2021-22)

Jose Mourinho has made a surprise return to football after being announced as the new Roma manager for next season.

Mourinho was recently sacked as manager of Tottenham but has made a quick return, the Serie A club confirmed on Tuesday.

The former Porto, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Manchester United manager will take over from Paulo Fonseca, who exits the club in the summer, he does have a chance to finish on a high but must first overturn an embarrassing deficit against United.

A statement said: "The club are delighted to announce an agreement has been reached with Jose Mourinho for him to become our new head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season."

𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 🤝

The club are delighted to announce an agreement has been reached with Jose Mourinho for him to become our new head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season.
#ASRoma pic.twitter.com/f5YGGIVFJp

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) May 4, 2021

The news comes two days ahead of Roma's Europa League semifinal second-leg against Manchester United, a game in which they trail 6-2 on aggregate.

What Jose Mourinho said after signing for AS Roma

“Thank you to the Friedkin family for choosing me to lead this great club and to be part of their vision,” Mourinho said.

“After meetings with the ownership and Tiago Pinto, I immediately understood the full extent of their ambitions for AS Roma. It is the same ambition and drive that has always motivated me and together we want to build a winning project over the upcoming years.

“The incredible passion of the Roma fans convinced me to accept the job and I cannot wait to start next season.

“In the meantime, I wish Paulo Fonseca all the best and I hope the media appreciate that I will only speak further in due course. Daje Roma!”

Sources had said a move for Maurizio Sarri, the former Chelsea and Juventus coach, was "80% done" and a verbal agreement in place, before Roma made the shock announcement of Mourinho.

Roma are seventh in Serie A, 14 points outside of the Champions League qualification positions and nine points behind rivals Lazio.