Revealed: Huge sum sacking Jose Mourinho now would cost Manchester United

 

Manchester United face shelling out £29million to Jose Mourinho if they sack him now.

The Old Trafford boss and his legal team will insist the Glazer family, who own the club, pay up a contract which doesn't expire until June 30, 2020. With built-in loyalty payments, signing fees and other agreements on top of his £14.5m a year annual salary, that amounts to a whopping £29m.

However, that figure would dramatically reduce to just £10m if he sees out the season and United fail to finish in the Champions League positions, which would hit the club’s finances.

Then, they could sack him by paying less than a year’s salary — an attractive position for some within the club as there is no obvious candidate other than Zinedine Zidane waiting in the wings to take over.

United’s stance until recently was to wait and see what happens in the Champions League, with the club’s financial projections based on them reaching the knockout phase that starts in February.

But with the team struggling domestically — they had to fight back from 2-0 down to beat winless visitors Newcastle with a last-gasp goal on Saturday — and back-to-back group games against Juventus next up in Europe, the top brass have become concerned the season is fast unravelling and that they may have to act sooner than planned.

The problem for supremo Ed Woodward in ditching Mourinho now is the lack of a credible successor.

Zidane is available after leaving Real Madrid in the summer after winning three Champions League titles while in charge at the Bernabeu.

But many believe the highly-decorated Frenchman, who only has three years of management experience, would be ill-equipped to rebuild United and keep them competitive in a league where he’s never worked.

A sizeable chunk of the fans would like Mauricio Pochettino, but it would be almost impossible to get the Argentinian coach out of Tottenham as they prepare for life in their soon-to-open new stadium.

That leaves Woodward staring down the barrel – with many fans ready to turn on the Glazers’ head man at Old Trafford if he gets his managerial recruitment wrong for a FOURTH time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.