Manchester United are set to imminently hire Jose Mourinho as their new manager, replacing Louis van Gaal.
After months of flirting, Ed Woodward and the Glazer family have finally got into bed with the former Chelsea boss, who will manage across the city from former La Liga nemesis Pep Guardiola.
With the former Barca boss now at neighbours City, and Liverpool upwardly mobile under Jurgen Klopp, the Red Devils are under pressure to get their next appointment right.
But what would Mourinho bring to Old Trafford? How would the team be set up? And who could he bring in?
Coaching staff
Having worked with them in his last four jobs, you could expect Jose Mourinho to bring in Rui Faria, Silvino Louro, Jose Morais and Carlos Lalin if he gets the nod to replace Louis Van Gaal.
The Dutchman’s coaching staff, including the likes of goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek, would be unlikely to stay but the key decision would be what to do with Ryan Giggs.
On one hand you’d expect Giggs would be welcomed by Mourinho, who has embraced former players when arriving at clubs before. Aitor Karanka, now topping the Championship with Middlesbrough, was the chosen assistant at Real Madrid – where Mourinho threw him in at the deep end on several occasions by skipping press conferences.
Will Giggs, until now the heir apparent to LvG, be willing to remain as number two though?
Having been seemingly promised the job, for Mourinho to roll into town and take what was rightfully his would be a kick in the teeth. Will the Welshman stick around as second in charge or would he look to get away and forge his own path?
It could be a headache for senior figures at Old Trafford.
Playing style and current squad
Until this season we felt like we knew what to expect from a Jose Mourinho team: Defensive solidity, a physical core and one striker.
The decline of his centre-backs, Nemanja Matic’s form and Diego Costa’s general state, mean that none of those three have been evident. But there are building blocks for him to use at United.
Chris Smalling and an expensive new arrival would likely form the base for his defence while the days of Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo playing centre-back would surely be numbered and Phil Jones could become an Ivanovicesque right-back.
Bastian Schweinsteiger appears to have the sort of mentality that Mourinho likes in a senior player, but has annoyed many behind the scenes at Old Trafford. Meanwhile, there would be questions over Morgan Schneiderlin – who Mourinho allowed Tottenham, Arsenal and United to bid for without showing any interest – even though he profiles best as Mourinho’s new Matic/Makelele.
Juan Mata’s future has obviously been thrown into doubt after previously being flogged by Mou, but Ander Herrera could probably expect a fresh start and possibly a role similar to that of Oscar in Chelsea’s title triumph (before he was denied his wish to leave).
Wayne Rooney was once a player that Mourinho was desperate to sign, but that was a far different player to what we’ve seen for much of the season from the England captain.
Ins and outs
Manchester United’s long-term interest in Cristiano Ronaldo would hit the buffers were Jose to be hired.
Their relationship soured hugely at Real Madrid and, with Paris Saint-Germain having pursued him for so long and so persistently, the move to Ligue 1 would make the most sense – although he has declared his intention to remain at the Bernabeu until 2018.
Given United’s need for a central defender and Chelsea’s very public pursuit of John Stones in the summer, there is an obvious target to plug that gap – but Everton won’t budge easily.
Players at risk of the chop would be the defenders mentioned above, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind, plus Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young.
Mourinho is also keen to bring in highly-rated Atletico Madrid sporting director Andrea Berta. Italian Berta is understood to be a close friend of Mourinho’s agent, Jorge Mendes and his arrival would see the job of signing players moved from executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward to him.
Whether the club will then just become a Mendes plaything is the fear.
Academy
It has been one of the major concerns over Jose Mourinho’s record that he has brought through very few players from the youth teams at clubs where he was manager.
And the few example of him doing so are often during highly-toxic situations – remember the promotion of Antonio Adán at the expense of Iker Casillas during Real Madrid’s Mourinho-inspired civil war.
Chelsea’s loan army may make good business sense but the success of some of the departed loanees – Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku in particular – has become a stick to beat Mourinho with for his lack of faith in youngsters.
One of the few Van Gaal bright spots at Old Trafford has been the amount of youngsters he has blooded in the first team, so Mourinho will be expected to at least find some sort of middle ground.
Behaviour and reputation
There’s no doubt that Jose Mourinho’s reputation has taken a pummelling since August, with the Eva Carneiro affair, results slipping and his frequent paranoid outbursts not reflecting well on the Portuguese.
Given that, according to most reports, Mourinho didn’t replace Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 because there were concerns among the Old Trafford hierarchy about The Special One’s behaviour and how it might affect a club like United, the fact that the club even considered him now suggests a marked shift in policy.
But with that history, you’d have to expect Ed Woodward to remind Mourinho from the outset that his previous behaviour won’t be tolerated at United. For the first time in a long time, Jose is unlikely to be taking a job on his terms. There are only so many demands you can make in his position and, chastened a tad by the year’s events, we could see a more mellow Mourinho than ever.
