Brendan Rodgers: Mourinho Snubbed the Chance to Move to Liverpool

Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Jose Mourinho had the chance to join Liverpool in the 2000s and build a legacy there instead of moving to Chelsea.

The Portuguese manager will feel vindicated by his choice, having won two Premier League titles with the Blues in consecutive years since being inculcated into the team by Roman Abramovich. However, Liverpool were also rewarded for keeping faith in Rafa Benitez who helped them win the Champions League during that period.

Meanwhile, in the current season, Rodgers, who was Mourinho's assistant during his time with Chelsea, is set to beat his mentor to the Premier League title with the Reds.

Liverpool are currently nine points ahead of Manchester City and five ahead of Chelsea, though City have two games in hand over their rivals in Merseyside. A win over Chelsea in their upcoming game at Anfield will pretty much seal them the title - Liverpool's first in over 24 years.

Rodgers believes that Liverpool's situation could have been much different if Mourinho had taken over in 2004 but was not to be as he chose to go to Chelsea with better resources.

"There is no doubt that there was a period back in the early 2000s, that this club was a possibility for him. Maybe resources were different and he had a better opportunity to go elsewhere but make no mistake, he knows the size and prestige of Liverpool," Rodgers revealed.

"There has been a history there, what with the rivalry and it was a great rivalry between the clubs, but beneath it all he knows the power of Liverpool for sure," he added.

Rodgers revealed that Mourinho had asked him to snub Tottenham for Liverpool in 2012, when the former Swansea manager was in a dilemma over his future.

"He told me to take the job and what a great club Liverpool was. I had spoken to him about it, he encouraged me about the sheer scale of the club," Rodgers explained.

"I was talking to him about a choice I maybe had, but he knows the size of this club. I understand full well the Liverpool-Chelsea rivalry and in that period maybe it was the managers and that was the rivalry.

"But for me there is no drama, no issue with him. The advantage I have is I know Jose behind the manager, a man who is humble, respectful, has real good values and ethics, but he is a winner and he wants to win.

"And I know even if we are considered a rival that if they didn't win the league he would want Liverpool to win it," he concluded.