Jose Mourinho extends Real Madrid contract

Jose Mourinho has ended speculation about his future by signing a new four-year contract at Real Madrid.

The confident 49-year-old is always in high demand, and rumours had been rife that he was set to walk out on the club after a series of high-profile clashes with the Bernabeu board earlier in the season.

That former employers Chelsea and English giants Liverpool are both currently in the market for new managers only intensified the speculation.

However, Mourinho, who this season led Madrid to a first La Liga title since 2008, penned an improved deal to keep him at the Spanish champions until 2016.

A statement on the club’s official website read: “Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho have reached an agreement to extend the coach’s contract with the club until June 30, 2016.”

Madrid’s title success, which ended Barcelona’s three-year stranglehold on La Liga, saw Mourinho become the first coach to win the league in Spain, England (Chelsea) and Italy (Inter Milan).

The self-styled ‘Special One’ is also one of only three coaches to have won the Champions League with different teams having led Porto to the European crown in 2004 and then Inter six years later.

He has also won numerous other trophies during a hugely successful coaching career that began with Benfica in 2000. Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most expensive player, described Mourinho as in a league of his own.

Asked who he felt was the better manager out of Mourinho and his former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, the Portuguese frontman said: “Ferguson was like a father to me, he taught me many things, and I achieved a very nice part of my career with him. ‘Mou’, for his part, is the best coach in the world and to be with him now is great to be able to continue growing. It’s very good working with him because he’s the number one.”

Mourinho joined Madrid in 2010, becoming their ninth coach in six years. This season they became the first Spanish club to reach 100 points in a top-flight campaign, finishing nine clear of Barca, while their tally of 121 league goals was also a record.