In late 2019, it briefly looked like Arsenal might hire Jose Mourinho, but the club were reportedly never interested in the current Tottenham Hotspur boss.

FILE PHOTO (EDITORS NOTE: COMPOSITE OF IMAGES - Image numbers 1193147331, 1207576912 - GRADIENT ADDED) In this composite image a comparison has been made between Jose Mourinho, head coach of Tottenham Hotspur (L) and Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal meet in a Premier League match on July 12,2020 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London,England. ***LEFT IMAGE*** MUNICH, GERMANY - DECEMBER 10: Jose Mourinho, head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, looks on during a press conference at Allianz Arena on December 10, 2019 in Munich, Germany. Tottenham Hotspur will face FC Bayern Muenchen during the UEFA Champions League group B match on December 11, 2019. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Bongarts/Getty Images) ***RIGHT IMAGE*** PIRAEUS, GREECE - FEBRUARY 20: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg match between Olympiacos FC and Arsenal FC at Karaiskakis Stadium on February 20, 2020 in Piraeus, Greece. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Jose Mourinho (L) and Mikel Arteta (R) (Photos by Adam Pretty/Bongarts/Getty Images and Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

In October 2019, head coach Unai Emery was struggling, and links to a potential replacement were growing. Reports started to emerge that Jose Mourinho might be keen on the job, despite his unfavourable history with Arsenal.

This quickly evolved into a rumour that Arsenal’s then-head-of-football Raul Sanllehi had met the manager for dinner (denied by the club), and he was even pictured in the stands for a game.

David Ornstein suggested that he suspected the reports were driven from Mourinho’s side to “alert clubs to his availability”, which clearly worked, as he ended up managing Spurs.

But were Arsenal ever actually interested? According to Football.London, they weren’t.

The outlet claim that Arsenal never made an approach for Mourinho and didn’t consider him as a replacement for Emery. The manager was only at the Emirates Stadium to watch his hometown club Vitoria, and probably to leverage negotiations with Spurs.

Football.London also reported at the time, “a senior figure has told football.london that the Arsenal hierarchy would be hugely reluctant to turn to Mourinho. There is an aversion to the style of football that he generally brings to his clubs, no desire to add such a potentially divisive figure to the team and the simple reality that he himself would have to accept a role where his input on transfers and a great deal of other factors beyond team selection would be limited.”

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 19: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur shakes hands with Demarai Gray of Leicester City after the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 19, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 19: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur shakes hands with Demarai Gray of Leicester City after the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 19, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in all fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

There were no talks with Arsenal and there was never any interest in Mourinho’s brand of football, so it was never anything more than internet gossip, fuelled by Mourinho’s camp with help from Duncan Castles. His report suggested Arsenal had set their sights on bringing in Jose Mourinho to replace Unai Emery.

Castles claimed Mourinho had dined with Sanllehi and was considering a move for the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss to try and bring some identity to what was clearly a talented squad underperforming with Emery.

According to James Benge, Charles Watts and James Olley, however, this dinner between Mourinho and Sanllehi never took place.

Mourinho’s Spurs have certainly played an unattractive brand of football, and it’s not even getting them results. We all know Arsenal have had major problems, yet ‘title-contenders’ Spurs sit just two points ahead of them in the league in ninth.

Avoiding Mourinho was probably the right choice.