Barcelona vice president pushing for Mourinho

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that Barcelona economic vice president Ferran Soriano is the one who is pushing the most for the arrival of former Chelsea manager José Mourinho (45). Soriano would have the support from the majority of the board, liking the inflexibility and the professionalism of the Portuguese.

In mid-January, Soriano would even have contacted Mourinho, through his agent Jorge Mendes, to deny the rumours about a veto from Barcelona legend Johan Cruijff and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain. Convinced by those words, Mourinho has since then postponed every decision on his future.

Ferran Soriano would prefer to bring in Mourinho because he thinks the Portuguese manager is the one who can lead the team to success in the coming years, which could make Soriano's road to the presidency in 2010 a lot smoother. The same reason would lead current president Joan Laporta to start supporting more the Mourinho option: Laporta wants to leave in 2010 by the front door, with a trophy.