Jose Mourinho turns down mammoth contract with Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal to stay at Roma.. then is hit with Serie A ban
JOSE MOURINHO turned down a HUGE contract to head to Saudi Arabia, only to be hit with a Serie A ban.
Mourinho, 60, was sent a salary proposal of £26million-a-year net to ditch current club Roma and join Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Neves at Al-Hilal.
reported the offer was turned down by Mourinho, with his focus instead being on Roma's project.
However, Mourinho has now been hit with a 10-day ban following comments he made about the referee after Roma's draw with Monza.
The former Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham boss has regained his explosive edge in Italy, which has often landed him in trouble with officials.
In this particular incident, Mourinho had thrown verbal digs at Daniele Chiffi, declaring: "He is the worst [ref]. Technically, he’s horrible. Zero empathy. Zero communication. Zero awareness."
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He continued: "A second yellow to a guy who slips in the 96th minute… I stopped working 20-30 minutes from the end because I knew he would give me a red card for anything.
"I didn’t give him the opportunity, I decided no, that’s enough. Believe me, I have dealt with many bad referees.
"Usually, when I talk about referees, it is because they have a direct influence on the game.
"He is horrible, he makes no human connection with anyone, he has no empathy, he gives a red card to a player who slips because he is exhausted at the 96th minute.
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"Unfortunately, this too is a sign of Roma’s weakness as a club, because we do not have the strength of other clubs who can say we don’t want this referee."
The ban will see Mourinho miss at least the opening game of the 2023-24 Serie A campaign - and possibly a second - and fined £43,200 (€50,000).
He also landed a four-game ban from Uefa after his incensed actions towards Anthony Taylor following the Europa League final.
Mourinho guided Roma to their second European final in as many years but was defeated on penalties by competition specialists Sevilla.
He fumed following the match, confronting Taylor in the car park after the game and slamming him in an astonishing X-rated rant.
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