Jose Mourinho has reportedly signed a pre-contract agreement with Manchester United and will take over from current Old Trafford manager Louis van Gaal in the summer. According to Wayne Veysey of Football Insider, the Portuguese has sealed a three-year deal with the Red Devils worth £48 million, equivalent to £308,000-a-week. The report added that, despite increasing calls for Van Gaal to be sacked immediately, Mourinho, 53, will not take over until the end of the 2015-16 season.
The former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss has been continually linked with the United job as their season has unravelled, and Bleacher Report’s Dean Jones believes he could be a big help at Old Trafford: The Van Gaal experiment does not seem to have worked, and reached a new low on Thursday night when United were downed 2-1 by FC Midtjylland in their Europa League last-32 first leg. Per Veysey, it was defeats such as to the Danish minnows that persuaded the club’s hierarchy—including those with reservations over Mourinho’s conduct, profile and style—to seal the deal with the two-time Champions League winner.
But, in truth, Van Gaal has been flattering to deceive almost since he arrived in Manchester. He returned United to the Premier League’s top four last term, but they were knocked out of the 2015-16 Champions League at the group stages and have little chance of qualifying for next season’s tournament.
Even the Manchester Evening News, has now turned against the Dutchman, via the Associated Press’ Rob Harris: Mourinho has a proven track record in the Premier League having won it three times with Chelsea. He may not be able to reintroduce the swashbuckling attacking style that was the club’s trademark under Sir Alex Ferguson—that is not Mourinho’s style—but he should engineer an upturn in results ay United.
Van Gaal has managed a period of stagnation at Old Trafford and his chances of seeing out his contract until the end of the 2016-17 season now look very slim indeed.
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