There has been a lot of speculation about former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s possible move to Manchester United, and now reports have surfaced that the Red Devils have asked the Portuguese to ‘sit tight’ till the end of the season.
Current Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has come under a lot of criticism during this season, especially for the ineffective style of possession football that his team has been playing. Some have argued that this is a style of football that would be better suited to the teams in the continent, than to English football.
Jose Mourinho had himself come under a lot of criticism for the uninspiring performances that defending champions Chelsea had churned out under his stewardship, in the first half of the season. He was sacked for a second time by Chelsea, amid rumours of a mutiny in the dressing room.
The Portuguese has been linked with a move to Manchester United ever since he was sacked, and reports have said that he prefers to stay in the Premier League. In fact, he is also said to have rejected advances from AS Roma after he got fired by Chelsea for this reason.
Now however, it has been reported by The Independent that Mourinho has been asked by a third party representative of Manchester United, to stay put till the end of the season, when the club is expected to sever ties with Van Gaal.
Will Mourinho really help Manchester United?
The 53-year-old Portuguese might have sent a six-page dossier to Manchester United about how he wants to take the club forward, but there are those within the club who do not believe that Mourinho is good for them.
The main argument for why Mourinho may not be good for Manchester United has been that he has a track record of buying his way to success, rather than really using the scouting and youth academy resources available at his disposal. His stints at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid are more than testament to that fact.
In more than a decade of football management, Mario Balotelli (currently at AC Milan) and Rafael Varane (Real Madrid) are the only two young players who could be said to have made it big after playing under his management. Out of these two, Balotelli seems to be already past his heyday as a player, in spite of being just 25 years old.
The fact that Mourinho has a tendency to buy his way to success, had been a big concern after Sir Alex Ferguson had left Manchester United. The task at hand for those in the club’s boardroom then was to carry on the legacy of the Scotsman and to keep churning out young players from the academy, while also keeping a number of top quality players in the first team who can be relied on to keep producing good results.
However, Van Gaal seems to have broken out of the system laid out by Sir Alex by making signings that have a cumulative worth of over £300 million. Now that the team is performing below the expected levels, there is a very strong case for getting someone like Mourinho, who ensures good results, if not anything else.
