Jose Mourinho is ready and willing to walk into Louis van Gaal's shoes at Manchester United. Van Gaal is on the brink at Old Trafford after Saturday's dismal home defeat to Norwich City in the Barclays Premier League took his team's recent run to three wins out of 13 in all competitions.
Despite a private vote of confidence from the United hierarchy just a fortnight ago, the manner of the weekend's defeat has changed the mood at boardroom level at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal will in all likelihood be sacked if United fail to get anything from Stoke City on Boxing Day and could even go before then.
The Stoke game is quickly followed by a home game with Chelsea two days later and if United lose both they will be cut adrift from the top four.
With Mourinho out of work after his sacking at Chelsea last week, the Portuguese would be high on United's shortlist of replacements, along with current assistant manager Ryan Giggs.
And it is understood that Mourinho would jump at the chance to move to Old Trafford, telling friends last week that there are some jobs that are impossible to turn down.
United have previously baulked at making a move for Mourinho, with key figures such as former chief executive David Gill and club legend Sir Bobby Charlton concerned about the amount of 'noise' that tends to accompany the two-time Champions League winner and indeed his tendency to stay at clubs for a relatively short amount of time.
Those reservations still exist at boardroom level at Old Trafford but with Van Gaal currently taking the club backwards – his record in the Premier League is now barely any better than his predecessor David Moyes – the landscape at United is changing.
Sir Bobby, for example, is a less powerful voice at Old Trafford than he used to be and the decision on hiring and firing this time round will be taken by chief executive Ed Woodward and the club's owners the Glazer family, with advisory input from Gill and club icon Sir Alex Ferguson.
One option that will be considered at United is for Giggs to take the job until the end of the season. That, however, would run the risk of other more high-profile candidates looking elsewhere for work.
One name sure to enter the frame is Pep Guardiola, who confirmed on Sunday he will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season, to be replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.
However, United fear that Guardiola's move to Manchester City next summer is a done deal.
Van Gaal must bring about a startling turnaround in form and mood at United if he is to survive his second Christmas and New Year at the club.
There is no burning desire to sack the Dutchman but Saturday's result was a new low for Van Gaal and it has not gone unnoticed in the boardroom that United's players did not look motivated on Saturday while the Old Trafford support has already made up its mind about their manager.
There have been doubts in the United dressing room about Van Gaal's tactics for weeks but those attitudes have hardened significantly in recent days and weeks with some senior players now convinced that a change must be made if the club is not to finish the season outside the top four again.
Van Gaal himself was not his usual robust self after Saturday's game, admitting that the club would lose faith in him if things don't improve immediately. He did claim, however, that he maintains the support of Woodward and his players.
Van Gaal said: 'Now I have not spoken [to the board]. Only at the end and Ed was very fast out of the dressing room. But I feel that support, yes. And the most important support is from the players.
'It is always like that because the players have to do it on the pitch and the chemistry between the players and the managers and his staff is very important. But of course the belief of the fans in the manager is also very important.
'We are in a bad period, we have lost three matches in a row and their belief has been tested. It's tested now and it shall decrease and yeah, it's also important how the fans are thinking, of course.'
Van Gaal has previously said that he would walk away if he felt he had lost the support of his dressing room. Asked if he still sensed the players' backing, he said: 'Yes – I have seen the reaction of the players to me [afterwards].
'They have to act like a team and they are doing that. Also today they have worked as a team but it was not good enough and we have to take care that it is good enough. It is the first defeat in Old Trafford.'
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