Jose Mourinho to be confirmed as Man United manager on £10m, three-year contract

Mourinho will earn double the £5m-a-year salary paid to Van Gaal

Mark Ogden
Chief Football Correspondent
Thursday 26 May 2016 18:03 BST
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Jose Mourinho leaves his home in central London
Jose Mourinho leaves his home in central London (Getty)

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Manchester United will confirm the appointment of Jose Mourinho on Thursday after negotiating a £10m-a-year, three-year contract with the former Chelsea manager.

Following two days of talks between United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Mourinho’s advisor, Jorge Mendes, the 53-year-old will be officially announced as Old Trafford’s third manager in three years on Thursday following the dismissal of Louis van Gaal in the wake of the club’s FA Cup success at the weekend.

And Mourinho will earn double the £5m-a-year salary paid to Van Gaal after being handed the challenge of restoring United to the summit of English and European football.

The former Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan coach, whose second spell in charge at Chelsea ended with him being sacked last December, will also secure bonuses of £5m and £2.5m respectively if he guides United to the Champions League and Premier League titles during the length of his contract.

Despite the complexities of Mourinho’s commercial agreements with the likes of Jaguar and Hublot Watches, which could potentially clash with United’s deals with general Motors and Bulova, and the manager’s image rights being held by Chelsea, Woodward and Mendes were forced to unpick the off-field complications of Mourinho’s personal portfolio of sponsorship deals before finalising his package with United.

Mourinho timeline - How the Special One made it to Manchester United

But with those issues now resolved, Mourinho will take charge of United for the first time when the club face Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on July 22 on the first leg of two game tour of China.

Mourinho is, however, due to sit in the Old Trafford home dug-out on June 5 when he takes charge of an England XI in a charity game for Unicef against a Rest of the World XI.

Mourinho’s imminent arrival at United has been welcomed by Bastian Schweinsteiger – the former Bayern Munich midfielder signed by Van Gaal last summer.

Schweinsteiger, currently on international duty with Germany, claims it will be ‘special’ to play under Mourinho at Old Trafford.

"Should Mourinho join Manchester United, I believe everyone would love to be coached by Mourinho,” Schweinsteiger said. “Then it will be something special."

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