Smouldering from the sidelines in sharp overcoats and designer stubble, Jose' Mourinho has divided the country with his trademark brand of unshakable self-belief in his four months as Inter Milan coach.
And on Tuesday evening the man rumoured to be the highest paid coach in Serie A will have riled critics further after appearing to let slip his salary during a press conference.
Enjoying a verbal spat with journalists, he accused one of being a frustrated coach.
''I'll do (the job) if you give me some of your nine million a year,'' the journalist replied.
''Eleven million, 14 with the sponsorship,'' Mourinho quipped back with a grin, prompting Inter to issue a statement on Wednesday that in reality they were paying the coach ''much less''.
The Special One has always been clear that popularity is not an issue: ''I don't care if people like me or not,'' he has repeatedly told Italian journalists. ''I'm Jose' Mourinho, I always have been and I'm not going to change''.
The 45-year-old Portuguese may in fact be the first foreign coach in Italian football who refuses to be daunted by the soccer scene's lengthy knife-wielding post-match discussions.
Last month he stunned audiences and presenters alike by walking out of a Sky One TV studio while his archrival, Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri, took his turn at being interviewed prior to a session with both managers.
''I'm very thirsty. I'm going to go drink something and eat, then I will come back,'' he told a member of the Sky crew matter-of-factly. By the time he returned Ranieri was gone.
Nor was he afraid to take on the entire Italian football scene when he came under fire for his lack of deference to tradition.
''You Italians are not as in love with football as I thought,'' he said.
''You're more interested in the small stuff instead of the important things, like for example the fact that Italian football today isn't on the same level as the Premier League or the Liga''.
'BIGGEST BIGMOUTH' IN EUROPEAN SOCCER.
Known for lively feuds with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson and others during his time at Chelsea, Mourinho has also lost little time in showing off his talent for infuriating rival Serie A coaches - although he claims he rarely instigates the flaps.
''Why do you think they all attack me? It's simple - they know that the next day they will be all over the front pages of the newspapers. It's all free publicity,'' he said in August.
In recent weeks he has suggested Lecce coach Mario Beretta ''probably needs to work on his personality'' as well as hitting out at the language skills of Ranieri, his predecessor at Chelsea, who he said ''had difficulty saying good morning and good afternoon after five years in England''.
In August a seemingly innocuous post-match comment by Mourinho so irked Catania CEO Pietro Lo Monaco that he was reported to the Italian Soccer Federation's disciplinary panel for saying the Inter coach deserved to ''have his teeth smashed''.
Lo Monaco later added that Mourinho was the ''biggest bigmouth'' in European soccer and had an ''insufferable air of superiority and disgusting contempt'' for small clubs like Catania.
Mourinho did nothing to help counter the charge this week when he annoyed surprise Serie A leaders Lazio and Napoli by failing to include them among teams he believes present a serious challenge to the NeroAzzurri.
DEFENCE MINISTER AMONG FANS. But as well as wooing Inter fans with a successful start to the season, Mourinho's tactical insight and straight talking has also won respect from unlikely quarters.
Despite crossing swords with Mourinho when he first arrived, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti has since described him as ''an able coach and a very intelligent communicator'', and Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini on Monday referred to him as Inter president Massimo Moratti's ''greatest acquisition''.
''He's just a bit of a show-off, but he can afford to be because he's so good,'' Zamparini added.
Italian Defence Minister and Inter supporter Ignazio La Russa is also a fan.
After Mourinho decided to hold his training sessions away from the public - and potential spies from other teams - La Russa told journalists that he would not be commenting on a private political meeting, ''just like Jose' Mourinho''.
The Special One has also impressed the Italian business scene with his media savvy.
In an unprecedented move earlier this month, he was invited to talk to entrepreneurs at this year's prestigious Workshop Ambrosetti international economic forum, rubbing shoulders with world leaders and Nobel Prize winners.
But Mourinho remains adamant that he doesn't care about courting favour in Italy.
''I'm not interested in what people think about me. My family love me, that's what's matters,'' he told journalists on Wednesday.
