"I don't imagine myself in Bayern Munich [as manager], only for one reason. I am so happy with my job. I don't look to the next step."
Wednesday 11 December 2019 06:57, UK
Jose Mourinho insists his motivation for learning German was "not related to jobs" and says he does not imagine himself ever leaving Tottenham to join Bayern Munich.
Mourinho was the early favourite with bookmakers to take charge of Bayern following Niko Kovac's sacking at the start of November and it was later revealed the Portuguese manager had been taking German lessons.
Mourinho ended his wait for a new job two weeks later, replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, and leaving Bayern still currently seeking a permanent replacement for Kovac.
Asked whether he could ever see himself managing Bayern in the future, Mourinho said: "I don't imagine myself in Bayern Munich [as manager], only for one reason. I am so happy with my job. I don't look to the next step.
"I think I will leave Tottenham one day when the owner Mr [Daniel] Levy, the supporters and the players want me to leave. I don't think [about] leaving at all."
When asked if he could answer in German, Mourinho said: "No, not yet."
Explaining why he was learning the language, he added: "Curiosity. The motivation is to learn. I try to learn all the time.
"I was not working for a few months. I would love to be here and answer in German, which in this moment I cannot. That was the motivation, it was not related to jobs."
Tottenham travel to Munich in a dead rubber match in the Champions League on Wednesday, with both sides already guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages and Spurs unable to leapfrog Bayern at the top.
Mourinho has left Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier at home for the game, but expects their replacements to put in a strong performance for the fans.
"It is an important game because we represent Tottenham and it doesn't matter what the game is, the objective or the ambitions," he said.
"Tottenham is Tottenham and that gives us always a sense of responsibility.
"One thing that I'm not having is time to know my players well so this is a great opportunity for some of them to play and show what they're capable of.
"We will try to mix these factors. We need to play for Tottenham but there are other things.
"We are going to have an incredible number of fixtures until the New Year and I think it is understandable that we are going to make a few changes and we are going to give opportunities to others."
Tottenham were thrashed 7-2 in the reverse fixture during Pochettino's reign and Mourinho is refusing to let his players dwell on that result.
"I forbid any image of it," he said. "I watched it a couple of times with my staff and the analysts and we tried to go through every detail of that match but not one single image for the boys.
"We are going to focus more on us than on Bayern. We are going to try to develop our model of play."
