"Any updates on Mourinho to Manchester United?" "What do you think of (this source) saying Mou won’t come?" "Did you see Van Gaal said he's coming back next season?" answering tweets like these has been a huge part of my life since February of this year.
We have covered numerous huge transfer stories since I joined Di Marzio's site three years ago, but there was nothing remotely comparable to the saga that brought Mourinho on the bench at Old Trafford. And now it's finally over, while a few weeks ago I joked that I would be happier than Mou's accountant once the deal was official, we are already set to turn the page and focus on the next big transfer stories.
But let’s look back to these intense 3 months- it all started on a Saturday evening back on February 7th. I was getting ready to go out, but before I could do so I had to post an update on Mourinho being set to replace Van Gaal at Manchester United- since that evening I have not stopped answering questions on the subject.
While Di Marzio has stuck by fact Mourinho would head to Old Trafford this summer, many other sites and sources reported different things- that he wouldn’t go at all, that he would have to wait a year, or that he was heading to Inter or Real Madrid. Out of respect for the work of others, we never confirm or deny what others report as a rule of thumb, because while Di Marzio has more than earned his reputation as a transfer guru he never claims to own the truth.
The first big hint that Di Marzio was on the right track came on February 20th- while Mourinho was visiting his former team Inter in Milano, the sister of the club’s former president Massimo Moratti told the media that the Special One “was happy- he’s going to Manchester and he’s well”.
In the meantime, Van Gaal continued to be defiant in his post game interviews- he constantly reiterated that he would be back the following season. If you have followed me for awhile, you know that we don’t put much stock on public quotes- Van Gaal was under contract for next season and certainly wanted to get paid- the fact that he said he was staying wasn’t that important when you consider it wasn’t really his decision to make. But that didn’t stop the tweets from coming my way after each of his press conferences…
Once Conte was finally appointed as Chelsea’s manager, something Di Marzio reported well before it happened, many started to have more faith on Mourinho to United. Considering that Chelsea didn’t have anything to play for unlike United, and that Conte wanted his future to be known before the Euro it was not surprising (at least to me) that his move would be announced well before United’s coaching change.
But even after Conte’s official announcement there were many skeptics. Once Van Gaal announced he was planning United’s summer tour, many started calling Di Marzio and I frauds- something that only increased after Renato Sanches ended up at Bayern Munich (but important to note Di Marzio had never said that was a done deal with United). I learned from Di Marzio that you have to hold yourself accountable in both good and bad times ("metterci la faccia" as they say in Italy), so I never stopped answering people- even those who called us “frauds” (and I want to thank these people too, they make us want to improve at what we do).
Some were even saying that despite a very successful 20 year career Di Marzio should retire if he got the Mourinho story wrong, by this point people started arguing over semantics simply because we were using words like “we believe Mourinho will go to United”- when this was just a way of reiterating we don’t own the truth, and that a deal is done only after the club announces it.
But now all this is behind us. Credit where it’s due- the information on this story was all Di Marzio’s I just had the patience to constantly answer people (and by the end I had to pick my words very carefully as some were taking my replies to a tweet as a “new report”). While I do have some sources and bring some stories to the site, my role is more to run the English page and promote the site outside of Italy- so if you congratulate someone on this make sure it’s Di Marzio.
After I spent numerous weeks answering the same question on Mourinho literally for over a hundred times on a daily basis, I was asked if I was hoping we would never cover a big story on Manchester United again (the summer of Vidal was no picnic either)- the answer is obvious.
It’s the fans passion for their clubs that allow me to do all the gigs I ever dreamed of doing (and have made Di Marzio until a star), while it’s hard to constantly answer same question I appreciate fact you all trust our site very much, and working with Di Marzio has opened many doors for me.
So thank you for the kind words (especially from those who believed the report from day one) and the support for what we do- but we won’t rest on our laurels, now that we are done with the Special saga we are ready to cover the best transfer story- which is always the next one.
