Mourinho was tipped to be Frank Rijkaard’s replacement at the end of the 2007-08 season. But the Chelsea boss instead joined Inter Milan after Barca thought Pep Guardiola was better suited to the club.
Laporta told El Pais: “Mourinho is a little bit of a Culé and he wanted to come to Barcelona, but it wasn’t possible because we had decided to sign Guardiola as coach.”
However, Laporta now feels Mourinho would have been a better choice at Barca, given the demands of current chairman Sandro Rosell.
Laporta, who is lawyer by profession, also spoke of his tense relationship with Rosell and his respect for Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
“I respect Florentino, and I’m not a friend of the current Barcelona chairman Rosell because all he has done has hurt me since he arrived,” Laporta added.
“He [Guardiola] was forced to take up roles that weren’t in his remit. Pep had a lot of character and Rosell and his group weren’t interested in that. Moreover, he reminded them too much of our term [during Laporta’s presidency] at Barcelona.”
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