Mourinho set to be confirmed as Manchester United boss today after ‘very disappointed’ Van Gaal is axed
Dutch manager walks away with bumper pay off
Jose Mourinho is on the verge of fulfilling his dream of managing Manchester United after Louis van Gaal’s troubled two-year reign at Old Trafford came to a bitter end.
Van Gaal said he was “very disappointed” to be sacked on Monday just 48 hours after leading United to victory in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.
Missing out on a lucrative Champions League place proved the final straw for the club’s United States-based owners, the Glazer family, and they didn’t let United’s first piece of silverware since the 2013 retirement of legendary boss Alex Ferguson stop them from wielding the axe.
With Van Gaal having cleared out his desk at United’s Carrington training ground after talks over a settlement for the final year of his three-year contract, which had been worth a reported £6.4 million per year (HK$72 million), the path is clear for former Chelsea manager Mourinho to be confirmed as the new United boss on Tuesday.
Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in December after a miserable campaign marred by a series of rifts with the club’s star players that eventually became intolerable to owner Roman Abramovich as the team, champions just months earlier, languished near the relegation zone.
