De Boer remains in contact with Van Gaal via the former United manager’s wife, Truus, to whom he sent a text message before the exit from Old Trafford was announced.
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Both parties have reached a deal on Mourinho’s contract length and salary, and Sky’s Sport Correspondent Paul Kelso says a three-year deal with an annual salary in excess of £10m a year is expected but unconfirmed.
The 53-year-old Portuguese is set to replace Dutchman Louis van Gaal whose two-year reign at Old Trafford was ended on Monday, two days after United lifted the FA Cup.
Ibrahimovic has a good relation with Mourinho, under whom he had played for a season at Inter Milan in 2008/09.
Jose Mourinho is close to becoming Manchester United’s next manager after executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and agent Jorge Mendes held talks in London.
After joining United’s academy on his 14th birthday, Giggs went on to make a record 963 appearances for the club, winning 13 Premier League titles and the Champions League twice.
Van Gaal paid the price for an underwhelming Premier League season in which United finished outside the Champions League qualification spots, scoring a measly 49 goals in their 38 top-flight fixtures.
Van Gaal, however, turned down the role, saying that he wanted to complete the final year of his contract with United. And that is the risk when you take Mourinho.
No confirmation on the fate of the rest of Van Gaal’s backroom team has yet been made, but it has been reported that assistant coaches Albert Stuivenberg and Frans Hoek, as well as performance analyst Max Reckers, have left.
“It has been an honour to manage such a magnificent club as Manchester United FC, and in doing so, I have fulfilled a long-held ambition”, van Gaal wrote on the club’s official website.
Van Gaal’s predecessor David Moyes also found that he was to be fired from the media before he was told by Manchester United.
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay, Ashley Young and Adnan Januzaj are other United players who may be understandably apprehensive about Mourinho’s impending arrival.
Finding a resolution to these issues is said to be the final hurdle to overcome before Mourinho is officially confirmed as United’s next manager.
“Mourinho rang the Dutchman, with whom he worked at Barcelona, himself to admit United had sounded him out about the Old Trafford job”.
Eric Cantona feels that Manchester Utd will be appointing the wrong manager – should they appoint Jose Mourinho.
“I love his personality, I love the passion he has for the game, his humour”.
Sometimes it takes one or two years.
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United goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel believes Mourinho is the right man to get the club back on track.
