The Sunday Supplement panel have insisted that regardless of what happens in the next few weeks, Manchester United will make a managerial change this summer.
Their comments came despite the fact that United booked their place in the FA Cup final on Saturday, while they remain in the hunt for a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League.
With an opportunity to win their first piece of silverware since 2013, it could be argued that their end to the season could reflect well on Louis van Gaal. However, The Sun’s Neil Custis was particularly convinced that the end is near for the Dutchman.
“I’m sure the decision has been made and that Mourinho will come in next season,” he told the Sky Sports show.
“Everywhere he has gone he has achieved success. That suggests to me that he’s the golden ticket.
“I don’t think [the FA Cup semi-final win] should mask what we have witnessed over the last 18 months under LVG, which has been pretty poor.
“If we’d seen more of those performances over the last 18 months there would be no question over the last year of his contract.”
The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Hayward echoed those sentiments, insisting that an FA Cup win and recent success shouldn’t see the failures during Van Gaal’s tenure put in the background and forgotten about.
An inability to compete for the Premier League title and not qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League are what should be remembered in terms of Van Gaal’s progress this season, or lack of, and that should be enough to force the United hierarchy into making a change.
Jose Mourinho has long been linked with the post at Old Trafford, with suggestions over the weekend that the Portuguese tactician had even already agreed a deal, as noted by The Express.
The former Chelsea and Inter boss’s track record shows that he has been successful wherever he has been in his career thus far, and with the financial backing of the Red Devils this summer, he could very well continue that tradition in the red half of Manchester as of next season.