Jose Mourinho insists his fiery "identity" as a coach will not change when he returns to football.

The former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid boss has been out of the game since being sacked by Manchester United in December.

Mourinho wants his next job to be in one of Europe's top-five leagues and is open to returning to England, where intense media interest has often accompanied his prickly demeanour.

An increasingly strained relationship with United star Paul Pogba preceded the Portuguese's departure from Old Trafford but Mourinho is not about to overhaul his personality.

"You cannot lose your identity, you are who you are and honestly I am so happy with who I am," Mourinho told Sky Sports.

"But there is a new period ahead of me, there is a new challenge, I think many challenges [are] ahead of me and honestly I look to that with more enthusiasm than looking back at what I did before.

"What I did, I did because I am so motivated. It is difficult to be, for the first time, without my football."

Mourinho will, however, take new support staff into the next challenge after deciding the time is right for a "few changes".

The three-time Premier League winner parted company with long-time assistant Rui Faria ahead of the 2018-19 season.

"I analyse different sports, I meet my future staff, because my future staff is going to be different to my previous staff because I thought it was the moment for a few changes," he said.

"Nothing personal, of course not, but in relation to the knowledge, to the motivation, I think it's a good moment to do that.

"I meet them, we speak, we analyse, we try to produce documentation to be the base for the next work, so we are always thinking."