Jose Mourinho is set to make a stunning return to management as Manchester United are reportedly on the verge of replacing Louis van Gaal with the former Chelsea boss.
Van Gaal’s future at Old Trafford is in doubt after Saturday’s home defeat to Norwich City took his team’s recent run to three wins out of 13 in all competitions. More importantly it dropped United out of the top four and the final Champions League place.
The United boss was give a vote of confidence by the United board just a fortnight ago, but consecutive defeats to Bournemouth and Norwich has changed the mood at boardroom level at Old Trafford. Defeat at Stoke City on Boxing Day will almost certainly see van Gaal sacked.
Not helping van Gaal was the news over the weekend Carlo Ancelotti will replace Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich next season, with the former Barcelona boss heading to the Premier League and bitter rivals Manchester City.
That has left Manchester United and Chelsea scrambling to line up their coach for next season before all the good ones are taken.
Heading into this season the consensus was that the best three managers in world football were Jose Mourinho, Ancelotti and Guardiola. With Ancelotti and Guardiola gone, then that leaves Mourinho, whose name was sung by some in the Stretford End at the weekend.
There have been reports out of Portugal and Spain that Mourinho has already agreed to a three year deal to take over at United and, which could mean that his first game will be at home against Chelsea!
United have been linked with Mourinho in the past, with key figures such as former chief executive David Gill and club legend Sir Bobby Charlton concerned about the amount of ‘noise’ that tends to accompany the two-time Champions League winner and indeed his tendency to stay at clubs for a relatively short amount of time.
Those reservations still exist at boardroom level at Old Trafford but with Van Gaal currently taking the club backwards – his record in the Premier League is now barely any better than his predecessor David Moyes – the landscape at United is changing.
What do you think about Mourinho taking over for LVG? Good move or bad one?
