Jose Mourinho was paid a staggering £4million by Manchester United not to take a job elsewhere while they decided the future of Louis van Gaal, according to Daily Mail.
An agreement was reached midway through the season to give United the option of bringing him in if Van Gaal failed to meet their targets.
The paper also reports that Mourinho refused to accept a ‘behavioural clause’ in his five-year, £75m deal despite concerns among the United hierarchy over his eccentric touchline behaviour.
The 53-year-old was fined £229,900 and received two stadium bans during his two spells at Chelsea and United are desperate to avoid the negative publicity those incidents generated.
However, Mourinho refused to agree during negotiations in January, highlighting his strong bargaining position as United’s season unravelled. Unlike Manchester City’s pre-contract deal with Pep Guardiola, the unique arrangement with Mourinho was merely to ensure he would be available if required.
Had Van Gaal been deemed to have been a success, by whatever criteria United laid down, he would have stayed for the last year of his contract. The deal was first reported by Spanish newspaper El Pais in March.
As it is, former Chelsea manager Mourinho will have £200m to spend on new players as United, who lifted the FA Cup on Saturday, plot a route back to the top of the English game after missing out on a top-four spot for the second time in three seasons.
United hope to have their transfer business completed by the end of Euro 2016 to ensure their manager has his squad in place when they return to training.
The club wanted to keep the agreement with Mourinho secret from Van Gaal, who was his boss at Barcelona, but by Sunday afternoon the United hierarchy were left embarrassed by another PR own goal.
The fact Van Gaal knew he had lost his job within minutes of winning the FA Cup is considered by senior figures as more shameful than the departure of David Moyes, who learned of his own dismissal from media reports before executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had the opportunity to inform him personally.
At Wembley on Saturday it was Van Gaal’s wife Truus who told him she had seen the story on the BBC website shortly before he was due to give his post-match press conference.
Mrs Van Gaal was said to be extremely upset, which would explain the tetchy nature of the exchanges her husband then had with the media. He is also understood to be furious with his Old Trafford employers.
News of Mourinho’s appointment, which is expected to be confirmed on Tuesday, was not leaked by United. But Woodward will face questions about how Van Gaal’s moment of triumph was marred by such public humiliation.
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