Mourinho has a frosty relationship with Wenger, labeling him a ‘specialist in failure’ (Picture: Getty)

Jose Mourinho has rejected the suggestion that he is a short-term manager and aimed an unsubtle dig at rival boss Arsene Wenger, who has not won a league title since 2004.

The Manchester United manager has never lasted four full seasons at any of the clubs he has been at in his career, lending weight to the notion that he does not lay the building blocks for long-term success.

But Mourinho has rubbished those claims, citing the successes many of his former teams have enjoyed in the immediate years after his departure.

Mourinho’s United side top the table, the only team with a 100 per cent record (Picture: Getty)

The Portuguese coach also made a point of stressing that staying at a cub for a long time – Wenger, who was once dubbed a ‘specialist in failure’ by Mourinho, has been at Arsenal for 21 years – is not a measure of long-term thinking.

‘If people say that because I win and leave, I have to accept that because in a certain period of my career I did that,’ he explained in an interview with The Times.

Mourinho could not win the Champions League at Real, though they have done so three times since he left (Picture: Getty)
Mourinho could not win the Champions League at Real, though they have done so three times since he left (Picture: Getty)

‘When I win the Champions League, at Porto, at Inter, I disappear. I left Real Madrid when the club wanted me to stay. The only place I was sacked was Chelsea, but always after winning the title.

‘If people say that because I move from club to club, they’re right, but I don’t think I am [short-termist]. I prepare clubs for success.

Wenger has not won a league title since Mourinho first arrived in England (Picture: Getty)

‘I think I prepare clubs in a way where, when I leave, the new manager arrives at a top club. And that is not short-term even if you leave.

‘If you’re in a club one or two years — or any job — if you leave a structure to be even more successful without you than with you, that’s not short-term. That’s long-term. That’s long-term.’

Asked if he is referring to Real Madrid, who have won three Champions League titles since he left, he continues: ‘I am, I am. As an example, short-term can be the guy that is at one club 20 years or 15 years or ten years and leaves the club in conditions for… what is the opposite of success? Failure.

‘One who leaves the club in conditions for failure. That is a short-term manager. You can be there 10 or 20 years and when you leave the club, it’s ready for failure.’

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