Jose Mourinho is set to be appointed as the new manager of Manchester United after prolonged negotiations that even involved a pre-contract agreement to stop him from joining another club.
The Mourinho to Manchester United saga has been the most long drawn out story of 2016. Mourinho was an immediate candidate for the managerial position when he and Chelsea parted ways in December, given the team’s poor situation back then. Manchester United were struggling in the Premier League and had crashed out of the UEFA Champions League.
Louis van Gaal and his men rallied after the new year though, as there was a brief glimmer of hope with the club finding winning ways in the Premier League and an emphatic victory in the Europa League, albeit against underdogs FC Midtjylland. This brief period lasted less than three weeks as the Red Devils then went on to get knocked out of the Europa League by arch-rivals Liverpool.
In the face of the disappointing results, Manchester United were rumored to have kept Jose Mourinho on hold with a pre-contract agreement. It has now been revealed that the club had paid the Portuguese manager a whopping £4 million to not consider other offers and wait for them to reach a decision on Louis van Gaal, according to the Daily Mail.
The most expensive managerial swap ever
Louis van Gaal’s contract still has a season to go, with the Dutchman signing a 3-year deal when he arrived in 2014. This means that there will be a severance package when Manchester United let go of him. Initial reports suggest that the figure could come close to £5 million, excluding the payments to his staff members that might leave with Van Gaal.
That figure, combined with the price Manchester United paid to keep Jose Mourinho available, adds up to an excessive £9 million pounds. This is not a fee that they have paid for services from either Van Gaal or the Special One, but the costs of simply facilitating this managerial swap. Another reminder that even though the Red Devils’ may not be one of the top clubs in footballing terms anymore, they have the financial firepower to climb back to the top.
