Manchester United: Jose Mourinho using PSG to press for financial backing
By Cay North
PSG has been interested in Jose Mourinho since his exit from Chelsea, but now, their interest may help him at the negotiating table.
PSG has gained almost everything that a club could want, recently. They signed Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, they have a lead over current champions Monaco in Ligue 1, and they’re expected to be a legitimate contender in the Champions League this season. The one thing they lack, however, is a manager that is considered truly world-class.
The Parisian giants have been interested in signing Jose Mourinho for a long time, and now that Mourinho has held out on signing a new contract, their push to attract him could become much more real. However, unfortunately for PSG, it looks like most of the interest from Mourinho is a negotiating tactic to gain more financial support from Manchester United.
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United had a hot start to the season but has fallen to a distant second place behind their rivals from across town. Arguably, the drop in form could be blamed on the fact that City outspent them at the window by £70,000,000, strengthening more positions than United did and bringing in more new talents.
It wasn’t long ago that Pep Guardiola was in the same position as Mourinho, reworking a squad that had been mostly assembled by a different manager. When City paid up and allowed him to sign his desired players, the results improved drastically.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho wants the same treatment from Manchester United. The interest from PSG gives Mourinho an easy way to pressure the club into accepting his demands. There’s not many clubs that can steal a successful manager away from Manchester United, but after the last transfer market, PSG would definitely be on the list.
The club has made contact with agent Jorge Mendes, and Mourinho himself has also praised them, which only adds fuel to the speculation.
"“The other day, my son who lives in London went to Paris and not to Manchester to watch the match. At the moment in Paris there is something special. Magic, quality, youth, it’s fantastic."
The PSG interest does make sense, if current manager Unai Emery can’t win the Champions League with the new look squad. With Ligue 1 being considered a weaker league compared to the Premier League or La Liga, European titles will be the number one goal for PSG, not domestic ones.
Emery does have experience winning the Europa League with Sevilla, but that competition is still very different from the Champions League, which features the rest of the world’s biggest spenders.
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Mourinho, on the other hand, has already won four European titles, with two of them coming from the Champions League. He’s also widely considered to be one of the top three or four managers in the world, which would fit PSG’s high standards in recent years. His contract runs until 2019, and has an option for an extension into 2020, which will give both sides time to see how the rest of the season goes before making decisions.