Imam Nahrawi of Indonesia’s Youth & Sports Ministry, has confirmed that discussions have been held internally over the possibility of hiring out-of-work Jose Mourinho as national team coach.
Mourinho is one of the most coveted managers in world football, having led Porto and Inter to Champions League glory, while he won three Premier League titles with Chelsea and won the Primera Division crown at Real Madrid.
Nahrawi admitted that wages would likely be a stumbling block over attracting the Portuguese to Indonesia, but indicated he had held discussions with the president of the country’s football association (PSSI), Joko Widodo.
In addition, he floated the idea to Inter president Erick Thohir, who heads the country’s Olympic Committee.
“This plan has been discussed with President Joko Widodo and the Chairman of the Indonesian Olympics Committee, Erick Thohir, even though this won’t be easy,” he told the media.
“When I asked Erick [Thohir], Mourinho's salary is about Rp250 billion (£13 million) per year.
“Mourinho's arrival, would at least add enthusiasm among Indonesian football fans. We need this as a motivation for our players.
“Our national team head coach must be a foreigner, accompanied with our local coaches as his assistant.”
Nahrawi also revealed that Thohir advised him to pursue Guus Hiddink, due to the interim Chelsea boss’ greater experience of international football.
“Mr. Erick said not Jose Mourinho, but Guus Hiddink instead. But the motivation is that we want to awaken the fighting spirit of the players,” he concluded.
Indonesian football is currently in the international wilderness and is without a FIFA ranking as the PSSI has been suspended from the organisation due to government involvement. Upon invoking the ban in May 2015, FIFA said the decision “resulted from the effective 'take over' of the activities of PSSI by the Indonesian authorities”.
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- Goal