The Special One’s stats speak for themselves. League trophies in three of Europe’s most iconic domestic competitions: Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.

Two Champions League titles with FC Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010 means Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho will go down in football folklore as one of the greatest managers of all time.

But there is also another telling statistic. The Portuguese coach is a nomad at heart, moving on after two or three seasons at the helm.

And when his record is examined in greater detail, a pattern emerges.

Immediate success

Mourinho’s arrival at a club often results in immediate success. At Chelsea and Inter Milan, he won the league title in his first season while at Real Madrid he took the Copa del Rey in his first year in charge before edging Barcelona to the league title in his sophomore season.

Similarly at Porto, he wrested the Portuguese league crown from the clutches of Benfica and Sporting Lisbon in year two of his reign.

The season after winning his first league title for a club, the team tends to reach for greater heights.

After winning the Portuguese league in 2003, he led FC Porto to the Champions League in 2004. Similarly at Inter Milan he won the Champions League in 2010 after title success in Serie A the previous season.

In his second term at Real Madrid last season, Mourinho and his team were a penalty-shootout away from the final.

The exception to the rule was his second season at Chelsea which saw his side condemned to last-16 elimination by Barcelona.

Short term vision

But the immediate success that Mourinho brings comes at a price. His short-term vision means that his teams peak early but are past their sell-by-date by the time he moves on.

The generational gap between Chelsea’s old guard of John Terry and Frank Lampard and potential younger legs is a problem that stems from the Mourinho era when there was little emphasis on youth development. The Blues subsequent success is down to owner Roman Abramovich’s chequebook.

Inter Milan collapsed completely after the Special One left after two seasons. Since Champions League glory in May 2010, an ageing team has failed to win another major trophy and are slowly rebuilding.

And the problem of peaking too early is rearing its head at Real Madrid this season – his third at the club.

Last season Real took La Liga from Barcelona with a fiery intensity and record points haul while flirting with Champions League glory.

But this season a tired-looking Madrid are already eleven points off the pace in La Liga and history shows that no Real Madrid manager has kept his job after falling behind by that many points.

Siege mentality

It is the intense atmosphere that seems to be the undoing of Mourinho teams. The 49-year-old likes to create a siege mentality at his clubs, convincing his players that the world – whether that be referees or rival clubs - is conspiring against them.

At Real Madrid, he claims that Barcelona receive favouritism from UEFA, while at Chelsea he fuelled Champions League feuds with the Catalan club and Liverpool.

Early on the siege mentality creates a bond between players and the manager but that level of dedication and paranoia can only galvanise a team in the short-term.

So it will be no surprise if Mourinho leaves Real Madrid at the end of this season and makes his way to the Premier League.

But clubs should be wary of his track record for short-termism.