Jose Mourinho tried like crazy to sign Wayne Rooney at both Chelsea and Real Madrid... he is a huge fan of the man he jokingly named 'Fat Boy'

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Rob Beasley is the sports journalist who knows better than anyone what makes Jose Mourinho tick. 

He had a regular audience with the Special One and they exchanged many emails and text messages. 

These are revealed in an explosive new book which is being serialised by Sportsmail and give a fascinating insight into the Manchester United manager's mind.

By the summer of 2013 and Jose Mourinho's second spell at Chelsea, Wayne Rooney had become his sole focus.

The Manchester United and England star had seemingly reached a crossroads in his career at Old Trafford. 

Sir Alex Ferguson had finally quit as United manager and been replaced by David Moyes from Everton. Moyes and Rooney had previous and suddenly they were reunited at United.

Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Wayne Rooney and tried to sign him at Chelsea and Real Madrid 

Mourinho jokingly referred to Rooney as 'the Fat Boy' when he was in charge at Chelsea  

Rooney's world was in turmoil and Mourinho was ready to exploit the situation to the maximum to try to land the man he felt would end his striker woes.

Jose had been a long-time admirer of Rooney and three years earlier had expressed an interest in signing him for Real Madrid.

That was in October 2010 when Rooney had angrily pulled out of contract talks with United. Mourinho responded from Spain, saying: 'If Rooney wants to leave - give me a call.'

No phone call was forthcoming, as Rooney quickly reconsidered his situation under Ferguson and signed a new five-year contract.

This time around, Mourinho sensed it could be different. It was clear that Rooney was unhappy and unsettled and that's all Mourinho needed to know. His subsequent pursuit of the then 27-year-old throughout the summer of 2013 was relentless.

Now as manager of Manchester United, Mourinho counts Rooney as his Old Trafford captain 

Mourinho had hoped to step in to sign Rooney when David Moyes was the United manager

JOSE MOURINHO: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL by Robert Beasley, published by Michael O'Mara on September 29 at £16.99

As early as June, Mourinho had said: 'I like him, he is at a fantastic age. He has maturity and big experience.' On July 7 he was turning up the heat, hinting Rooney's unhappiness at United could affect England.

'If Wayne is a second choice for United, the national team will be affected,' he said. A few days later he was back at it, adding: 'I can't speak about players from other teams but you know me, I have always said what I think and I like the player very much.'

Mourinho was ultra-confident of success by the time Chelsea arrived in the USA for pre-season at the end of July. 

It was clear that the Blues were now ready to go to £30million to sign Rooney, the magic figure they believed would seal the deal. Spirits were high.

I remember sitting in the lounge of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington DC having dinner with my son Joshua when Jose sauntered over. The next thing my 12-year-old lad knew, the Chelsea boss was pushing him along to squeeze into the chair with him.

Mourinho also tried to lure Rooney to Real Madrid, such was his admiration for the forward

Rooney is now undergoing a difficult spell with people questioning his place in the United side

Jose's opening line was a corker: 'What do you think of us trying to sign the Fat Boy?'

Josh was caught out for a second and didn't cotton on to the 'Fat Boy' joke at first. I started laughing and told him: 'He means Rooney — the Fat Boy is Rooney.'

For all his joking, Jose was a huge fan of the United striker and desperately wanted to sign him up.

Later, I called Rooney's agent Paul Stretford. I'd known him for years and we had a decent relationship. We had a long chat about the situation and he encouraged me to believe that his man would be leaving Manchester United.

It seemed to be confirmation. It wasn't. Far from it. Chelsea were waiting for Rooney to hand in an official transfer request, something he seemed reluctant to do.

After United and Chelsea drew 0-0 at Old Trafford at the start of the season, Mourinho played his final card. 'One way or another he has to say, "I want to leave" or "I want to stay",' said Mourinho.

Rooney never did say 'I want to leave' that summer and the deal collapsed. Mourinho was left in the lurch.

It was while standing on a fire escape at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in LA in the summer of 2009 that Jose told me his Inter Milan side were selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona in exchange for £45m and Samuel Eto'o.

'It's an amazing deal, eh?' said Mourinho as he took a break from a pre-season tour event.

Mourinho sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona in exchange for £45m and Samuel Eto'o

The two were together at Italian giants Inter Milan and have now reunited in England

Relationships run deep with Mourinho, though, and he and Ibrahimovic stayed in touch. 

Mourinho told me: 'A player who gave me as much as Ibra will always be in my heart. He did a lot for Inter. Ibra is a player I'll never forget.'

In February 2012 when I told Mourinho I was heading to Milan to interview Zlatan, he replied: 'Tell him that I say I will be the coach winning in Spain, Italy and England and he should be the player (to do the same). He has to play in England — in my team!'

Mourinho was still manager of Real Madrid back then but he'd always told me his next stop would be back in England. He always hoped they would be back on the same side again. It became a reality at Manchester United in 2016. 

Extracted from JOSE MOURINHO: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL by Robert Beasley, published by Michael O'Mara on September 29 at £16.99. ©Robert Beasley 2016. 

To order a copy for £12.74 (before October 1st), visit www.mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640. P&P free on orders over £15.