Wesley Sneijder Exclusive: José Mourinho is the Perfect Coach for Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappé

Soccer legend Wesley Sneijder exclusively spoke to Hard Rock Bet ahead of the World Cup and believes France are the favorites to win the competition for a third time.

The Netherlands hero also discussed the rising tensions between fans and Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid and why former boss José Mourinho would be the perfect appointment for Los Blancos.

The 2010 UEFA Champions League winner also previewed the final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, reflected on his iconic career, and revealed who he believes will win the Ballon d’Or.

Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé petition and why José Mourinho should return

Your former boss José Mourinho has been linked with a return to Real Madrid – should Los Blancos hire him?

Yeah, I know him very well. I think in the past I have said enough about him. I was with him for just a year, but in that year, the experience I got from this guy was incredible. Before I talked about managing a team, and that’s his main quality.

He knows exactly how to manage all the players because it’s easy to manage the first 11 players. All coaches in the world can do that. But it’s not just about the 11 players. There are more players on the bench or not even on the bench. Teams are getting bigger and the numbers of players are growing.

Before, we had maybe 23 players in the squad. Now it’s up to 30 and you need to manage all those players as well.

For me, that’s the key to being a successful coach. If you don’t know how to manage, it is really hard. Nowadays, Real Madrid is one of the teams that needs a great manager, but also a manager who can be on top of amazing players with very strong characters. I think he is the main person for that role now and they need to sign him.

I hope they sign him soon because Real Madrid, even though I just played there for two years, are always in my heart. Once a Madridista, always a Madridista. I am always with Madrid.

If they sign him, it’s a very good decision because with José Mourinho, you cannot play these kinds of games.

50 million+ have signed a petition wanting Kylian Mbappé to leave Real Madrid, what do you make of this?

We’re all sheeps. If one person goes, the rest follow automatically. Some of them probably don’t even know what they’re signing. But in the end, he was also really important for the team. He scored a lot of goals and had a period where he was carrying Real Madrid when there were injuries and problems with Vinicius Jr, for example, he was always there.

At some point, they made a mistake with his knee. He was not fit during that period. From my own experience, when you’re not 100% fit, you cannot perform at the highest level. Especially at Real Madrid, with all the pressure, it’s really intense and is really hard.

I believe that wasn’t an easy moment for him. He was struggling with himself. Then there were decisions where he went on holiday instead of staying with the team. That’s not good, especially when Barcelona can become champions at the El Classico. That really hurts the fans.

You need to be with the team. But at the same time, I believe he is still one of the top strikers in the world. If there is a coach who can manage that, then probably those things won’t happen. So, it’s not just his mistake, it’s also the mistake of the whole Real Madrid environment.

I believe there was nobody who could tell him, ‘Listen to me, Kylian, you are not going anywhere. You stay here with the team.; That’s the other side. I also don’t know if Vinicius Jr plays differently with Mbappé or better without him because I am also listening to the rumors.

But when I see them together on the pitch, they seem fine together. Same with Bellingham and Rodrygo. The best players can always play together, as long as you know how to manage them.

World Cup preview, Netherlands chances and France being favorites

How do you rate the Netherlands’ chances of World Cup glory this year under Ronald Koeman?

It’s always hard to say before the World Cup starts, like, okay, ‘these are the chances for these teams and these are the chances for the other teams’, because at a World Cup, it’s not only about saying, okay, ‘this is the chance’, because you need so many things.

You need the right players. We all saw it in the past as well. At the end [of the season], some players couldn’t make it to the World Cup due to injuries or whatever, so yeah, you need this kind of luck as a team, that your team is complete.

Then you need luck in general. Your first game is really important, but if you have to pick some teams now that you can mention as favourites, of course you can do that, and then where are the chances for the Netherlands? I think we have to be lucky if we can reach the semi-finals.

Donyell Malan has been in great form for Roma, can he become a star player for the national team?

In the past, we have seen in the Dutch squad that he was more used as a sub. He came in around the 70th minute or at the end of the game.

But of course, I also see in the last few months, especially this year, but also over the last few years, I’m a fan of him. He’s making progress, so that also gives me the opinion that at this moment, he might be a player that can probably start in the first XI, also because we don’t have a real typical striker, a number 9.

Memphis is also struggling with injuries in the last few weeks and months. So that might be a possibility that Koeman is thinking about, to put Donyell Malen in from the beginning. Also, because of the style he wants to play, we need a typical number 9, and I think there are a lot of chances for Donyell Malen to start during this World Cup.

Do you expect Ronald Koeman to remain as Netherlands coach after the World Cup?

That also depends on him. I don’t know what his ambitions are. Maybe he wants to coach a club team after the World Cup. Before, he was the coach of the Netherlands, then he moved to Barcelona, and then he came back to the Netherlands.

I don’t know where his ambitions are, if he wants a club after this World Cup experience. But is he the right person? Yeah, I think so, because I was lucky with him in the beginning of my career because he was the coach of Ajax and I started my career with him.

So I have to give him all the credit. Also, at the end of my national team career, he gave me the chance to play those last games in the national team as well, so I have a lot of respect for this guy. I also believe that he’s the right guy at the moment who can manage all those players together who play in different parts of the world.

He’s doing a great job, but at the same time, we have also seen in the past that we couldn’t beat one of the top five teams in the world. And if you want to be world champions, you need to beat one of these top five countries, and he couldn’t manage that in the last [few] years.

Who do you see as the favorites going into the World Cup?

I think there’s a big chance for France and Spain as well and then also Brazil, they have a strong team.

Germany is always there. Nobody’s talking about Germany, but they’re always one of the outsiders, and at the end they will come very far.

England, of course, everybody is talking about England as well. They have a good team and a lot of talented players. So, I think quality-wise, it will be a very strong World Cup.

Are France favorites due to how many great players they have?

That’s the funny thing about France. If we check the players, the coach of the team has big decisions to make. I don’t know what the other players will do if they are not starting in the first 11.

He can put out 11 strikers with the quality to play. All the other countries wish they had three of the attacking substitutes France have in their team.

But that’s important, if everything can be managed. We see now also in club teams that managing is one of the hardest things as a coach.

I believe if they can all put themselves aside and just think in a team process, they will definitely win the World Cup. But that’s a really hard job. I believe you need to be a very good coach. They have one.

You had so many memorable moments at World Cups, which one stands out the most?

A World Cup is a funny thing because it’s the highest platform for a player to perform, and now with the new rule, with 48 teams there, it seems like the whole world is playing in the World Cup now, so that’s nice. Everybody is watching it. But the first game is always the key to the World Cup.

If I look back at 2010, for example, we played the opening game against Denmark. We didn’t play that well, but we won. That is very important. You need to win your first game. Imagine you are a player for France. You’re on the bench because the coach picked other players. But then the first game, they lose.

The other players start knocking at the door saying, “Coach, where am I in this situation now? I need to play the next game,” and that can create rumors in the team.

That’s also key during the whole tournament, and that’s not easy because you’re together for six weeks. You need to keep everybody together. That’s another very crucial thing in a successful World Cup.

Then on the way to the final, you need to be lucky. No red cards, no injuries, everything needs to be 100%, otherwise you can’t win the World Cup. In 2010 we were lucky.

Everything was going smoothly. In 2012 at the Euros, just to mention how important the first game is, we also played Denmark. We played amazingly well, but we lost and then it created rumors, and 2012 is history.

It was an absolute disaster from our side. Just to tell you guys what the first game does to the team spirit – it’s really, really important.

Missing out on the Ballon d’Or

A lot of fans believe you deserved to win a Ballon d’Or during your time at Inter Milan, do you think you should have won it?

Yeah, but it still gives me a good feeling that people nowadays are still talking about it. Imagine if I had won it and people kept saying I didn’t deserve it. So, the other way around, I prefer it this way.

When I was a young kid in 1995, I was 11 years old and playing in the Ajax academy. I had only one dream, and that was lifting the Champions League trophy.

I never dreamed about winning the Ballon d’Or because it’s an individual thing. Winning the Champions League is a team process. Football is a team sport. You cannot decide yourself that you were the greatest player and should win it. Other people vote for it.

I wasn’t disappointed. I do believe I should have been in the top three at least. That really surprised me because I was at the gala and they told us the top three, and I wasn’t in it. But at the end, I had an incredible night with all those amazing players because I was in the UEFA Team of the Year.

Just a kid from Utrecht in such a small country was in the top XI of Europe in 2010. That for me was already an amazing achievement. Of course everybody kept talking about the Ballon d’Or, but it’s okay. I’m not disappointed about it.

Who do you think will win the next Ballon d’Or?

That’s really hard. It also depends on who wins the Champions League and the World Cup. If PSG win and France win the World Cup, then it will probably be one of the French players.

Désiré Doué is having a great season. If he scores five or six goals at the World Cup and decides the final, then he could become the new Ballon d’Or winner or Dembele again.

If he decides the Champions League final and then the World Cup final with France, everybody will say he deserves it. But if you look at the whole season as a full package, maybe you can also say Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had a great season.

It’s hard with players from smaller countries because the World Cup matters so much.
We’ll have to see. Right now we can’t mention just one name because the World Cup will be very important for the voting.

Standout moments of his career

Looking back on your career, what would you say your standout moment is?

It’s hard to say because I had very successful moments and finals. Of course, you always want to win a final. But the 2010 World Cup final we lost against Spain is also one of the most beautiful moments in my career, while at the same time one of the hardest.

Winning and losing are so close to each other. But the achievement of reaching the final as such a small country was already huge. When you’re there and you see the World Cup trophy, you want to win it. People always say, “Don’t look at the trophy,” but you see it. It’s gold. You cannot miss it. Then you want to win it.

But when we got back to Holland and had all the celebrations with more than two million people on the streets in orange, on the boats through Amsterdam, it was such an amazing experience.

At that moment, we felt like winners. Of course there were some drinks involved as well. But in the end, I never won a trophy with the Dutch national team, and if there’s one thing I miss in my career, it’s that.

His friendship with Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo mentioned your name. He said he wants you to come out of retirement and set up his 1,000th goal – would you return?

Yeah, that was a funny thing. I was talking to the technical director there about a completely different project, and he is very close to Cristiano. He told him, ‘Tell Wes to come out of retirement, start training a bit, and give me the assist for my thousandth goal.’

I knew Cristiano from when he came to Madrid. In the first three months I really helped him with everything, and we became close.

Whenever I see him now, we still have a great connection. He’s such a great player and an example and role model for everyone. Not just because of talent, but because of his spirit. What he achieved is ridiculous. It’s insane. He is a real role model for everyone.

PSG could thrash Arsenal in Champions League final

Who wins the Champions League, Arsenal or PSG?

If I have to say who I think will win, I’d say PSG. But Arsenal are not conceding goals easily. They have a very strong defence with the two central defenders with top quality.

I don’t believe the full-backs are the best players in the Champions League, and that’s where PSG have power, especially on the left side.

Everybody with an Arsenal heart hopes Justin Timber will be back and recover for the final. Otherwise, it’s going to be very hard for them. But Arsenal also know how to double up, with Declan Rice dropping back into defence.

It’s going to be an interesting one. I think it could be similar to the Inter Milan final last year. I believe it could be [5-0]. Before the game, I thought PSG had the advantage but Inter with a strong defence, and with the way they play on the counterattacks.

Maybe it can be [an upset] and 1-0 to Inter but it could also be a very hard night for Inter as well and it’s the same feeling I have now [for Arsenal]. It can be ugly, 1-0 to Arsenal, and I don’t say ugly in a bad way because to stop PSG scoring is a huge performance. But that’s really hard.

If Arsenal manage it and win 1-0, then it’s a great job. But I believe it will be very hard not to concede against PSG. So, it can either be 3-0 or 4-0 to PSG, or 1-0 Arsenal.

Liverpool should keep Arne Slot

Do you think Liverpool will keep faith with Arne Slot going into next year? There are rumours that Xabi Alonso might take over…

Yeah, when Xabi Alonso got sacked, he was already directly flirting with Liverpool and I don’t believe that is very beautiful because Arne Slot is doing a great job at Liverpool.

They had a tough season, and there were a lot of things what happened at the club and we all know what happened at the beginning of the season which hurt them a lot. It may have given them these performances. In the beginning, they were not performing the way they did the year before and that was really hard.

But they always kept fighting, in the league and in the Champions League as well. It was a tough season, but I don’t know if you should directly change the coach. Arne Slot is a nice guy, a good coach, and he has done great things there.

But that’s football. When results are not there, there’s always one person responsible because you cannot sack 15 players. It’s always easier to sack one coach and start again with another one.

After two weeks, everybody forgets you. That’s what happened with Jurgen Klopp. The day he left was amazing with all the celebrations, but after two weeks they were all cheering for Arne Slot. That’s football.

But I hope for Liverpool and Arne Slot that things improve. He made one very big mistake: selling Luis Díaz to Bayern Munich. If there’s one thing to criticize, that’s it. He’s amazing. A great player.

But there were probably reasons behind it as well. We are not there every day with the team or the financial department. Maybe they needed to sell him. But as an outsider looking at Liverpool and seeing Díaz perform at Bayern Munich, that’s difficult for me to understand.