Top European Football personalities disagree on choice of Mourinho as Manager of Manchester United

In the wake of negotiations to rope in Portuguese Jose Mourinho as new manager for Manchester United, big European names in football have hit news headlines with contradicting comments. Among these football heavy weights are French man Eric Cantona, legendary striker of Manchester United and top European managers like the Italian Carlo Ancelotti and the Dutch man Ronald De Boer.

 Retired French International footballer Eric Cantona, has said the Spanish top flight coach and new manager of Manchester City Pep Guardiola should have been United’s manager instead of Jose Mourinho. He said Pep Guardiola’s offensive oriented football was what Manchester United needed at the moment. Considering that the success story of United cannot be written without the name of the great Eric Cantona; one of the greatest strikers that ever spotted the red Manchester United jersey, this comment has not gone unnoticed.

Jose Mourinho and Lui Faria his assistant

 

According to Ronald De Boer, another respected manager in the game, Louis van Gaal's Manchester United departure was badly handled. Louis Van Gaal he said should have been given more respect. Meantime, the Italian Carlo Anceloti on his part feels that Jose Mourinho suits a club with the size of Manchester United. His explanation falls back on the achievements of Jose Mourinho in his career as a coach.

Even as Jose Mourinho's appointment as United’s manager drew to its final decisive moments on Wednesday, attention was already turning to his first games.

 While the Premier League fixtures will only be revealed on June 15, United's pre-season plans are already taking shape and Mourinho’s first games in charge will be very challenging. These are two exciting International Champions Cup matches in China in July and a Community Shield showdown against Premier League champions Leicester in August.

Mourinho's United will head for China in July, with his first game in charge coming against Thomas Tuchel's Borussia Dortmund on Friday July 22. The Bundesliga outfit constitutes a formidable opponent, with Tuchel earning plenty of pats on the back since taking over from Jurgen Klopp who presently is manager at Liverpool F.C another giant Premier League side.

Borussia Dortmund’s high-intensity style will make it a tough encounter for United as Mourinho struggles to implant his style over his new squad. The 53-year-old manager might possibly have new signings in the team in time for the trip to China.

The second pre-season encounter will be against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Monday July 25 at the 91,000-capacity Beijing National Stadium. Implicit here is the fact that the Mourinho- Pep Guardiola rivalry will again be rekindled during this encounter.  A mouth-watering sequel of their bitter rivalry which started in Spain is expected to ensue with the two  now in the English Premier League. The pair will be eager to strike a psychological blow before the competitive action commences, and, like Mourinho, Guardiola will use the encounter to assess his new squad.

The next pre-season encounter of Mourinho’s Manchester United will be against Leicester City on Sunday August 7 at the Wembley Stadium. Manchester United's triumph over Crystal Palace at the FA Cup Finals under Louis van Gaal means Mourinho will contest the Community Shield against Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City.
At the time of publishing this report, Jose Mourinho had agreed personal terms with Manchester United.

Lawyers for both parties were still in negotiations over a number of image rights issues, which were to be resolved before a contract could be signed. The length of Mourinho's contract and his salary have now been agreed after positive talks between United Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward and Mourinho's agent, Jorge Mendes.

UEFA Champions League,Saturday 28th, 19:45pm

This notwithstanding, dialogue was ongoing regarding the image rights conflicts, and it remained unclear whether or not these issues would be concluded in time for Mourinho to put pen to paper on his contract on Wednesday May 25, 2016. The two parties; Manchester United and Jose Mourinho are hooked up in numerous commercial partnerships, and must consider pre-existing commitments to their respective sponsors when Mourinho becomes United's manager.

 In their respective deals with Adidas, Jose mourinho and Manchester United have a lot of common grounds.  The new United manager is a global ambassador for Adidas, whose £750m, 10-year deal with Manchester United, came into effect in 2015. An example of a potential conflict has to do with Mourinho's commercial deal with Jaguar, which is at odds with Manchester United's seven-year deal with General Motors, which sees Chevrolet as the club's shirt sponsor.

Jose Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes and Manchester United’s Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward, and their respective sets of legal teams are working on how to keep their respective sponsors happy. These talks were expected to reach a decisive point on Wednesday. This is the only hurdle to be overcome before Mourinho becomes new United Manager. Meantime the last information filtering out according to info Sport+ Jose Mourinho had signed a three year contract and 260 million Euros had been put at his disporsal to rebuild the team.

While Jose Mourinho will find role for Ryan Giggs at Manchester United, the latter against all speculations will not be assistant manager; a position he held under Louis Van Gaal erstwhile manager of Manchester United.