Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti believes Jose Mourinho and Manchester United can be “a good wedding.”
Mourinho, 53, is expected to be confirmed as the new United boss by the end of the week after Louis van Gaal left the club on Monday.
United could only finish fifth in the Premier League under Van Gaal last season, though they did lift the FA Cup. That wasn’t enough to save Van Gaal, who came in for much criticism for the team’s style of play.
Ancelotti sympathises with the Dutch coach, who he feels had a difficult job handling the rebuilding process in the years after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But Ancelotti, who succeeds Pep Guardiola as boss of Bayern Munich this summer, believes Mourinho can help take United back to the top of the game.
“I think it is a good wedding [with Man United] because Mourinho really knows the Premier League well,” Ancelotti told the Daily Telegraph. “He is one of the best coaches in the world and Manchester United at this moment need someone who can improve what they did in the last two years with Louis van Gaal.
“There are different opinions about the job of Van Gaal, no? My opinion is that he arrived in a moment when he needed to rebuild a team after Rio Ferdinand, after [Paul] Scholes, after [Ryan] Giggs, after Ferguson and it takes time.
“The same thing happened to Milan. When Milan lost [Paolo] Maldini, [Gennaro] Gattuso, [Filippo] Inzaghi it was difficult to rebuild the team quickly, they needed time.
“The last year they [Man United] showed they have really good young players. And maybe with Mourinho they could have a step forward.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is looking for a new club after announcing his decision to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of his contract next month, is being strongly linked with a move to United. He would be reunited with Mourinho, who managed the Sweden international at Inter Milan.
“I think he [Ibrahimovic] is not young but still fit,” Ancelotti, who coached Ibrahimovic at PSG, told the Daily Telegraph. “He has a real winning mentality. Maybe Manchester United need this kind of player with experience. They are all young.
“Ibrahimovic is a really, really unselfish player. He is one of the few talented players who doesn’t have to say on the pitch, ‘I want to score.’
“He was really helpful at PSG when he arrived there. There was not a winning mentality. He was able to build a strong mentality at the club by example. The fact that PSG is now one of the top teams is a reward for Ibrahimovic.”
