Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed a long standing rumour that Fenerbahce were the first team to have made him a job offer outside of Portugal.
The Yellow Canaries made Mourinho an offer 14 years ago during his time in charge of Porto.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference Mourinho was quoted as saying: “I was made an offer back in the 2002-13 season. Fenerbahce were the first club outside Portugal to make me an offer but for whatever reason we did not go ahead with it.”
Fenerbahce held talks with Mourinho via football agent Bayram Tutumlu and the Portuguese coach did travel to Istanbul for negotiations until the deal fell through.
The experienced coach went onto join Chelsea instead establishing himself as a club legend before winning the treble with Inter Milan and then coaching Real Madrid before returning to the Blues followed by United.
The Istanbul giants were linked with Mourinho prior to him joining United but he revealed that no offer was made.
“There have been no official offers made from Turkey since then,” Mourinho added.
Mourinho will take on Fenerbahce for the first time as a manager in the Europa League Match Day 4 on Thursday evening at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium.
