Fired by Manchester United, where does Jose Mourinho go from here?

It’s almost an afterthought in the wake of Jose Mourinho’s overdue yet still somewhat surprising dismissal by Manchester United on Tuesday, yet the question remains intriguing. What does Mourinho do next? More to the point, where can he reclaim his status as the Special One, if that’s even possible?

Watching the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss skulk around Old Trafford this season, it’s easy to forget how Mourinho charmed his way into the English game more than a decade ago. He eventually even earned the respect, perhaps grudging, of legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he’d drawn the ire of by boisterously celebrating Porto’s 2004 upset of the Red Devils on the Theatre of Dreams touchline en route to his first unlikely Champions League crown.

It’s also easy to forget that Mourinho was a players’ coach back then. He was revered by Chelsea stars like Frank Lampard and John Terry as much as he was reviled by Paul Pogba in Manchester. Mourinho won the admiration of foes and a notoriously hostile media, who appreciated his quick wit and the ever-present twinkle in his eye. Not least, he was also a brilliant tactician, a reputation he cemented by leading Inter past far deeper Barcelona and Bayern Munich squads to win his second European title in 2010.

Is he any of those things anymore? It’s hard to say. While it’s true that Mourinho’s history shows that he never lasts much more than three years anywhere he goes, things went off the rails in unprecedented fashion this season. He clearly lost the United locker room long ago, contributing to the club’s worst start of the Premier League era. Now 55, there are whispers that he’s either unable or unwilling to relate to his young players the way he could when he arrived at Stamford Bridge as a 41-year-old in 2004.

He looked unhappy in Manchester. Tired. He’s been living away from his family, who remained in London after he left Chelsea for the second time three years ago. The first smile we’ve seen Mourinho flash in weeks came as he was being driven away from United’s training facility after being told his fate. It was the face of relief.

Maybe the time has come for Mourinho to trade the daily grind of club football for an international job. The Portuguese native has admitted before that the prospect of leading his homeland is appealing, but Fernando Santos is entrenched in that job though at least Euro 2020. A third stint at Chelsea probably can’t be ruled out as long as Roman Abramovich owns the club. But it’s hard to see any other marquee European club being high enough on Mourinho to pay the millions it would take to acquire him, so damaged is his reputation currently. At the same time, it’s also difficult to envision Mourinho putting his considerable ego to the side to take over the likes of a Valencia or Cardiff City.

Which brings us to MLS. It’s no secret that Mourinho loves the United States (whatever world-beating club he was at, UCLA was always his preferred summer training site) and he has said publicly that he’d like to coach in the domestic league some day. The coach-less LA Galaxy are an intriguing fit especially now that his former United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has re-upped for the 2019 campaign. However, the timing — the Galaxy need a coach yesterday, and Mourinho, who has two years left on a contract that reportedly pays him north of $22 million annually, probably wants to sit home and collect his fat paycheck for the next fews months at least — almost certainly makes any stateside reunion with Ibrahimovic unlikely.

Some might call the very idea absurd. Mourinho would cost a mint, and to be fair, if Mourinho found much of Manchester United’s roster beneath his lofty quality standards, good luck getting him excited about working with a bunch of SuperDraft picks straight out the NCAA. On the other hand, few could’ve predicted that former Barcelona and Argentina boss Tata Martino would land in MLS before Atlanta United inked him for their inaugural season. Martino’s success during his two years in the league only makes it more likely that other deep-pocketed teams will attempt to copy their model, even if Mourinho is admittedly next level.

What’s clear is that Mourinho lost his love of the game somewhere along the way. In order to recapture it, perhaps the man who started his glorious managerial career at Portugal’s humble U.D. Leiria needs to go back to his teaching roots. Wherever that next stop is, Mourinho’s journey will remain fascinating to watch.

Doug McIntyre covers soccer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.

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