Jose Mourinho is soon to be officially announced as the new manager of Manchester United, following the premature sack of Dutchman Louis Van Gaal despite winning the FA Cup with the Red Devils, which interestingly happens to be United’s only title since 2013.
Interestingly the previous relationship between the former Chelsea boss and former Barcelona boss was that of a boss and assistant relationship, which later grew to the Portuguese becoming a manager of his own, of which the Dutchman played a vital role towards ensuring this and also towards the development of Jose Mourinho.
When Benfica called on to Mourinho to come over to Portugal as assistant manager in 2000, the Portuguese discussed it with Van Gaal whom he assisted then, and who said to him “No, don’t go. Tell them (Benfica) if they want a first-team coach you will go; if they want an assistant you will stay.” Van Gaal said this because he saw prospect in his assistant as a future team manager, but did not envisage that someday Mourinho would take over his job when he would be sacked.
Van Gaal had also handed over the Barcelona team B to Jose Mourinho, preparing him ahead of the challenges he would face as a football manager.
Following the sack of Jose Mourinho from Chelsea, the former Chelsea boss got series of offer from notable clubs in Europe such as PSG, and other national sides in Asia such as China and Indonesia, but the Portuguese was adamant to move elsewhere except premiership, and prayed for the failure of his former boss to enable him make a possible return to premiership.
If Jose Mourinho believed that his former boss would succeed, he would have accepted an offer from Paris Saint-German, may be Manchester United would not have sacked Louis Van Gaal and the Dutchman would have completed his three year contract with United. But he undermined Van Gaal and the fact that he waited patiently, anticipating that United would not finish top four under Van Gaal was a clear indication that he looked-up to his former boss’ failure.
Van Gaal was shocked on Monday upon resumption to office that he was sacked despite winning the FA Cup, but would be more shocked that his former assistant was waiting for him to be sacked so he could take over his job.
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