Last week the news filtered through England that the “Special One” is back!
This meant that the legendary Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal was shown the exit door at the Theatre of Dreams: this was a dream come true for most United fans and the British Media.
For years, the British media have been fascinated with José Mourinho’s colorful personality. From being fired a few months ago as the coach of Chelsea Football Club to taking over as manager of Manchester United from the 2016/17 season, the Premier League is filled with drama!
Like appointing Jose Mourinho was not enough drama for the EPL, Manchester United’s noisy neighbors have appointed the services of Jose’s old enemy, Pep Guardiola. The bitter rivalry between these two stems back from their days in Spain. The bad blood between these coaches developed from the heated El’classico battles that spilt off the football fields to the press rooms. Pep and Jose exchanging verbal blows could well continue in England.
As a manager, Guardiola won 14 trophies in the first four years of his managing career. He is one of the most successful managers in the world and is considered by a number of players, managers and commentators to be one of the best managers in the world.
Mourinho is also considered to be one of the smartest tacticians in world football today. From Porto to Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid – wherever Mourinho has managed he has won silverware.
He has tasted success in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, as well as the Champions League and UEFA Cup. He has won in total 22 trophies since 2003.
Italian coach, Antonio Conte is another colorful character that will undoubtedly add to the drama of the English Premier League. One of Italy’s finest coaches has led Bari to the 2008–09 Serie B title, and Siena to promotion from the same division two years later. He then took over at Juventus in 2011, where he implemented a 3–5–2 formation and won three consecutive Serie A titles, before taking charge of the Italian national team in 2014 until the UEFA Euro 2016 campaign.
With other accomplished coaches like Arsene Wenger still in charge of Arsenal Football Club, Jurgen Klopp still leading the red army of Liverpool, Walter Mazzarri now at Watford and Claudio Ranieri proving he is up there with the world’s best, egos are sure to clash, reputations are in danger of being ripped apart, major upsets, broken hearts and the making of history – these and much more is what we should expect from the next Premier League season.
But does this make it the best league in the world?
We have seen Spain dominate Europe in the last few seasons. Barcelona and Real Madrid are the last two winners of the Champions League. This is mainly due to the influx of the world’s best talents like Messi, Gareth Bale, Christiano Ronaldo, Neymar & Luis Suarez.The MSN for the last two seasons have been a nightmare for defenders and Real Madrid’s BBC have also been a deadly force.
The likes of Bayern Munich have been consistent in the Champions League and are undoubtedly a force that cannot be ignored in Europe.
After the European Championships we will see how the likes of Mourinho and Guardiola will cope with the pressures of English Football. If the major teams in England fail to secure a major trophy in Europe then we surely cannot call the EPL the best league in Europe like some argue.