Jose Mourinho has signed to a pre-contract arrangement to join Manchester United in the late spring, as per a report in El Pais.
Mourinho left Chelsea in December and has been heavily linked with Louis van Gaal’s job at Old Trafford, with sources saying that he would target Tottenham striker Harry Kane if he were to take over.
The 53-year-old told BT last week that he had already decided to join a new club in July, and that he wanted to clear up a few “lies” about his future.
Van Gaal, who has a three-year contract at the club which ends in summer 2017, has taken sixth-placed United to only nine wins in 26 games and crashed out of the Champions League and Europa League. But he insisted that he does not feel under pressure and is confident of keeping his job.
However, the report claims that Mourinho has agreed to take over and will be paid £15 million if he is not appointed before June 1 according to a source from his agent Jorge Mendes’ company Gestifute.
A clause reportedly inserted in his agreement says that United will pay Mourinho £5m if they do not appoint him before May 1, and a further £10m if they don’t before June 1.
El Pais also claims that the reason for the clause is because senior figures at the club such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton are not certain that the Portuguese is the right man to take over.
It was gathered in February that Mourinho and his representatives are increasingly confident he will be Manchester United manager next season, while the club were also looking at Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino as a possible successor to Van Gaal.
