Next Newcastle manager: Jose Mourinho explains why he would not manage a club like Newcastle United

Rafa Benitez will leave Newcastle later this month when his contract expires after talks with owner Mike Ashley over a new deal broke down

Jose Mourinho has said he would never manage a club that does not “play to win” amid speculation linking him with the vacant manager’s job at Newcastle United.

Rafa Benitez will leave Newcastle later this month when his contract expires after talks with owner Mike Ashley over a new deal broke down.

Mourinho was named among the early frontrunners for the role and is the favourite with some bookmakers, having been out of the game since his sacking by Manchester United in December.

But, speaking to The Coaches’ Voice in a video recorded before Benitez’s sudden exit and without specific reference to Newcastle, Mourinho said he did not suit a job in which “the objective of the team is to finish ninth”.

“The only thing that I know is what I don’t want: I am quite pathological in the sense of I have to play to win,” he said. “Then, if I don’t win, then that’s my problem and the players and the club and the structure, but I need a project where the feeling is I play to win.

“If somebody gives me a wonderful 10-year contract and the objective of the team is to stay in the first half of the table and if you finish seventh, eighth or ninth, it’s perfect, then that’s not for me. That’s my nature. My next (goal) is to fight to win.”

Other candidates in the frame include Claudio Ranieri, David Moyes, Mikel Arteta, Sean Dyche, Chris Hughton and Avram Grant.