Mourinho "behind some other candidates" to become next PSG manager

Football insider Jonathan Johnson wrote a new entry in his newsletter on Friday morning, revealing new information about PSG's ongoing search for a new manager to take over the head coach position next season. According to the journalist, AS Roma's manager Mourinho is currently behind other alternatives.

Although the journalist is aware that there have been reports about PSG's interest in hiring Jose Mourinho, Johnson thinks that the Portuguese coach is "not one of the club's leading candidates at the moment." However, he added that hiring him "can't be ruled out entirely." while it can’t be ruled out entirely, I can’t imagine he’s one of the club’s leading candidates at the moment.

Johnson revealed that PSG "could be changing their strategy this summer" and that Paris Saint-Germain will pivot "towards a model built around younger players and French talent."

The journalist lost no time in remarking, though, that it’s important to be clear that PSG have "not actioned this yet."

According to the information obtained by Johnson, this new strategy is just "an idea that the club is increasingly open towards" although nothing is set in stone yet. He believes there are doubts about whether that pivot would allow the club to "be able to meet the demands and expectations of the board," pointing to winning the Champions League in particular.

The feeling around PSG, says Johnson, is that what the club are missing is a "professional, winning culture," and that's what the organization is trying to build going forward.

Lack of a "professional, winning culture" at PSG might be scaring Mourinho off position

According to Johnson, PSG want to "model themselves on some of the more successful institutions of European football," and the journalist thinks that PSG have not achieved more success because they have failed to build that proper culture over the past 10 years.

Johnson thinks "Mourinho wouldn’t be the worst pick for PSG." However, the journalist thinks that "a strong character like Mourinho" is an unknown with regards to whether or not "he would be capable of keeping a lid on this PSG squad, keeping them focused, and taking out a lot of the elements that seem to lead to the implosions that plague them every year."

As Johnson understands it, there was "a sort of historic lack of interest" from Mourinho in coaching in France or at PSG. Johnson, though, made clear that he "doesn’t know if that’s a specific issue with the project, or a preference for the leagues in England and Italy, or just because he’s perhaps preparing the ground for PSG at some point if they really want him."

In a revealing statement, Johnson wrote that "if Luis Campos stays at PSG, then there could be a good Portuguese connection" that could bring Mourinho to Paris.

That said, and in his opinion, Johnson thinks that "Mourinho is probably behind some of the other candidates being talked about," as the journalist goes on to mention names like those of "Zinedine Zidane or Thiago Motta," being ahead of the Portuguese manager.

Mourinho can still win the Europa League title with AS Roma this season and although they're looking at an empty Serie A season, the team can still finish inside the top-2 as they're only five points behind second-place Lazio in the standings with seven games left to play.