Mourinho already planning on the big changes he will bring in if United appoint him and his first target is Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder who currently plays for Galatasaray, according to a report from Sunsport.
Manchester United hierarchy have already short-listed the Special One, sacked only last week by Chelsea. And the 52-year-old Portuguese believes Netherlands schemer Wesley Sneijder might become the “game-breaker” United is looking for.
The midfield maestro happens to be a key part of Jose Mourinho’s treble winning Inter Milan squad that won the 2010 Champions League as well as the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia.
Sneijder eventually left Inter Milan in January 2013 for around £8.4million to make a move to Turkish champions Galatasaray, but the Dutchman is now said to be not in a good position at Galatasaray and would be a perfect fit for Mourinho’s Manchester United squad in every sense; certainly a dressing room acolyte, capable of telling the rest of the team how good the manager still is despite Chelsea debacle, and also someone who fits into the Portuguese’s work ethic.
Mourinho however, is now sitting tight waiting for United’s verbal approaches to be replaced by something more concrete if chief executive Ed Woodward and the United board ultimately takes the harsh decision of sacking van Gaal.
Mourinho is said to be favourite to succeed van Gaal after the Red Devils slumped to a surprising 2-1 home defeat to Norwich last weekend.
Mourinho was also shown the door last week following their 9th league defeat and sources close to him claims he already started to work on what will be his strategy at Old Trafford if United decides to offer him the job he is so keen to take.
Sunsport also claims that Mourinho has already begun analysing the video footages of all the matches Manchester United played till now this term.
However, Manchester United came so close to signing Wesley Sneijder, who has 120 international appearances for Netherlands, five years ago but couldn’t hold on to Inter’s asking price.
“We had some talks with Alex Ferguson back in 2010,” Sneijder revealed in an interview by Galatasaray Dergisi, the Turkish giant’s official magazine.
“They contacted the club after our Treble season but too much money was asked for. And I was also happy at Inter so I decided to stay. Manchester United are a fantastic club and they kept showing interest after that year but not as determined as before.”
Depleted Red Devils now travel to Stoke City on Saturday in what might become a make or break game for Louis van Gaal.