'I miss football' - Mourinho targets fourth Premier League title

Jose Mourinho is determined to add a fourth Premier League title to his collection before walking away from management, with the Portuguese currently overseeing events at Tottenham.

Spurs are the third English club to have handed their reins to a proven winner at the very highest level.

Two productive stints at Chelsea delivered league and cup triumphs aplenty, while three pieces of silverware were secured during a spell with Manchester United.

Replicating that success in north London is the challenge now facing a 57-year-old tactician who has seen questions asked of his ability to compete with the managerial elite of 2020.

Mourinho’s belief has never wavered, despite some early tests being presented to him at Tottenham, and the ultimate goal remains the same for a man accustomed to collecting medals.

"I prefer to think that I'm going to have a fourth Premier League trophy," Mourinho told Sky Sports of his ambition.

"I have three, I prefer to think I'll have four."

Spurs had been finding the going tough before football shut down amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but their cause could be aided by the return to fitness of key men such as Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko if the 2019-20 campaign is played to a finish.

Mourinho said of his walking wounded: "For them, it's many, many weeks of injury, and when the injury was arriving at an end, we stopped training.

"I don't know, they don't know, we have to wait for the right permission for them to train again in groups to see if they can come back to a normal competition level."

It remains to be seen whether schedules in England will be completed, with seasons already written off in France and the Netherlands, but Mourinho hopes competitive action will return.

He added: "I miss football.

"But I prefer to say I miss our world, like I think we all do. Football is just part of my world. But we have to be patient, this is a fight that we all have to fight."

Mourinho went on to say: "If we play the remaining nine matches this season it will be good for every one of us.

"It will be good for football, for the Premier League.

"If we play football behind closed doors I'd like to think that football is never behind closed doors. With cameras, it means that millions and millions are watching. So if one day we walk into this empty stadium, it will not be empty, not at all."