“I have always felt an affinity with Old Trafford; it has hosted some important memories for me in my career and I have always enjoyed a rapport with the United fans”.
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Van Gaal was shown the door in the aftermath of United’s 2-1 extra-time win over Crystal Palace on May 21, with Mourinho eventually appointed on Friday after the club’s failure to finish inside the Premier League’s top four.
Mourinho knows the signing would go down well with United fans, and sources claim it is close to being a done deal after the Portuguese sounded out the 34-year-old.
Louis van Gaal, Mourinho’s sacked predecessor, ultimately paid the price for failing to secure Champions League qualification, but it was the pedestrian nature of the team’s football that provided a lightning rod for criticism during his two-year tenure.
“There’s real fight amongst the managers who’ll be eager to start well so I think it will be interesting times”.
Mourinho’s excitement to be taking over a club with a “mystique and a romance” is clear, as is his desire to revive United’s ailing fortunes.
Of even greater concern to the United hierarchy will be the knowledge that Mourinho’s second stint at Chelsea generated unsustainable levels of friction in the changing room, with technical director Michael Emenalo citing “palpable discord” between manager and players as the chief reason for his December dismissal.
“We can look at our club now into two perspectives: one perspective is the past three years and another perspective is the club history”, he said.
“I think I prefer to forget the past three years, I prefer to focus on the giant club I have in my hands now”.
“I have said that United have been lacking a few characters and he would be a good fit there”.
“There was empathy, no problems and, in fact, I was pushed by that feeling to say sometimes things that my clubs were not happy with”.
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Press Association Sport understands United’s most decorated player has an offer to stay on, although it is unclear what that role would be having been assistant to Van Gaal.
