Mourinho closes in on Man United

Cantona sideswipe

LONDON, May 24, (AFP): Jose Mourinho was closing in on becoming Manchester United’s new manager on Tuesday despite club great Eric Cantona saying incoming Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola would have been a better pick.

Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes was in talks with United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, British media reported, less than 24 hours after Louis van Gaal’s troubled two-year reign came to a sour end.

Former Chelsea boss Mourinho, one of football’s most intriguing characters, would march into Old Trafford boasting a personal trophy haul that includes three English Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns.

But Cantona, whose goals helped fire United to four Premier League titles in the 1990s, said the defensive-minded Portuguese was the wrong man for the job, in an unexpected and incendiary intervention.

“Guardiola was the one to take,” the Frenchman told The Guardian newspaper.

“He is the only one to change Manchester (United). He is in Manchester, but at the wrong one.”

Cantona’s comments will only inflame the personal rancour between Mourinho and Guardiola.

Mourinho would arrive at Manchester United just as Guardiola joins their bitter rivals Manchester City from Bayern Munich, for his first taste of the Premier League.

When Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid and Guardiola running their sworn enemy Barcelona, the Portuguese never missed an opportunity to take a swipe at the

Mourinho