Jose Mourinho has reportedly agreed to take over at Manchester United, who are waiting on the green light from the Glazers before sacking Louis van Gaal, according to The Sun.
The Sun reports that United chief executive Ed Woodward has held talks with Mourinho and is satisfied that he is in place for if the trigger is pulled on their under-pressure manager.
Van Gaal has overseen a run of six games without a win during which the Red Devils have dropped to fifth in the Premier League and been knocked out of the Champions League.
His unadventurous style of football has also bored the life out of Old Trafford, but United owners Avram and Joel Glazer have so far stood by their choice of replacement for David Moyes.
The Sun goes on to suggest that a defeat to Stoke City on Boxing Day could prompt the Glazers into taking action, and sacked Chelsea boss Mourinho is waiting in the wings.
The Daily Star reports that Mourinho, only axed by the Blues last week, is “desperate” for the United job and would be willing to take a £16m pay cut to secure an immediate return to work.
The Special One was the highest-paid manager at Chelsea on £10m-a-season. The Daily Star claims that he would be willing to accept a four-year deal worth around £6m-a-season at United.
A source close to the Portuguese told the Daily Star: “Jose is making no secret of how keen he is to take charge of United if the job becomes available.
“It is not about the money. Managing United has always been one of his ambitions because of the prestige and history associated with the club.
“He knows it would be a huge challenge, but he loves working in English football and would take a wage cut if it meant getting the chance to make United great again.”
LVG out, Mourinho in seemed a popular idea among our Twitter followers yesterday…
The rumours continue! #MUFC fans, what would you prefer? To keep LVG or to get Jose in? https://t.co/xEwtgcJcyq
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) December 20, 2015