Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Duncan Castles has detailed a disagreement between Jose Mourinho and Daniel Levy just before he was sacked by Tottenham.
The manager was dismissed on Monday, and Castles has heard that the gaffer and the chairman were having something of an argument before he was relieved of his duties.
The dispute was over the idea of resting players ahead of the Carabao Cup final, and people close to Mourinho reportedly believe that Levy was purposefully provoking Mourinho.
“The information I have from people close to Mourinho is that ahead of that game he had talked to Daniel Levy and he explained that he intended to rest two or three of his most-used players for the Premier League game against Southampton in order to get his team in the best possible position for the League Cup final,” Castles said.
“My information is that Levy told him ‘no, I want you to play your best team against Southampton, because league position is more important than winning that cup’. People close to Mourinho believe that this was a form of provocation from Levy that he had decided he was going to change manager.”
“People close to Mourinho believe that if he hadn’t said that, Levy would have used something else to provoke him and manufacture this dismissal. The decision had been made.”
Well, isn’t this incredibly immature?
Of course, we don’t know how true this is. The information has come from Mourinho’s camp, so they will of course want to paint the former Spurs boss in the best light possible.
If Levy was indeed trying to provoke Mourinho then he’s acted in an incredibly unprofessional manner, but as we say, this could just be Mourinho’s camp trying to get their side out there first.
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