IT HAS all been put to bed.
Jose Mourinho, living out of a suitcase in the Riverside Suite at the Lowry Hotel, is sticking around until 2021.
Manchester United is his home, his football club, his passion.
The Portuguese is putting down a marker, making it clear his work at Old Trafford will not be done until they are top of the pile again.
That is now the challenge over the next four years.
There is a willingness on both sides, however uneasy and prickly this relationship appears at times, to make United great again.
CLAIM YOUR FREE £30 BET Check out this new sign up offer from Sun Bets
Sure, there is financial security, the £15million-plus salary and mind-boggling bonuses that have been negotiated in his latest package.
Mourinho will never be short of a pound note but that is not the primary motivation behind this contract extension.
KNOW WHERE ALEX-IS? Sanchez spotted for the first time in a week… but where?
He has signed them before and not seen them out — notably at Real Madrid after seeing off Barcelona’s title challenge in 2012 and Chelsea when they won the title in 2015.
There are never any guarantees with Jose. After penning a new deal with Chelsea in 2005, Mourinho was gone by September 2007 — sacked after drawing with Rosenborg in the Champions League.
A similar pattern has emerged throughout his career.
He signed a new deal at Real in 2012 and was gone the following summer.
Four months after signing an improved contract with Chelsea in 2015 he was gone for a second time.
This time, United believe it is different. He is here to stay.
The money men think he is worth it, with United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward convinced he will deliver sustained success.
United know the Premier League title is beyond them this season, trailing 12 points behind Pep Guardiola’s lot.
This contract is clearly about committing to the long haul.
Mourinho’s endless quest for honours, the thirst that turned him into the greatest trophy-hunting coach in the history of the sport, is undiminished.
Crucially, the Glazer family feel the same way.
There is nobody out there, nobody better placed, or better-suited to meet the challenge of knocking Pep off his perch.
Mourinho is the only coach out there with the experience, the mastery of English football and tactical wizardry to outperform Manchester City’s feted manager over time.
United have overlooked the frequent brushes with the FA, along with his latest unseemly spat with Antonio Conte at Chelsea, to make it known that he is very much their man.
It would have helped if he did not batter Paul Scholes a couple of weeks back, even if the ex-United midfielder does seem to have a downer on his old side.
Giving Scholes a ping is not really the United way.
Mourinho will never change, with his reflex actions and spontaneous, cutting remarks something English football has become accustomed to.
It be can be wearying — but the Premier League would not be as much fun without him in it. He lives for trophies, winning three — Community Shield, Europa League and EFL Cup — in his first season at United.
The football is hardly thrill-a-minute, however his cheerleaders try to dress it up but Mourinho always makes good on his promise to deliver results.
With the exception of Real — where he won La Liga in 2012 but could not succeed in the Champions League — he has never left a job half done.
He delivered the European Cup for Porto in 2004, won Chelsea’s first title in 2005, before returning to do it all over again in 2015.
In between all that he made good on a promise to win the Champions League for ex-Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti in 2010.
Six years at United would be an impressive stint if he says until 2021.
Cynics would say Mourinho’s options are running out, that the list of clubs who covet him is finally starting to dry up.
Paris Saint-Germain has always been delicate, with the Qatari ownership uneasy with the added exposure, attention and controversy he would bring.
Perhaps, after managing a club with the expectations of Manchester United, there will be nowhere left for him to go.
When his new contract expires he will be 59, looking back on a career managing some of football’s biggest, most demanding and successful clubs.
How to claim your FREE £30 bet
Mourinho has always harboured ambitions to manage Portugal. That can come later.
For now it is about re-establishing United, finding a way to win the club’s first title since 2013.
The club are backing him with the imminent arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.
They still have a shot at the Champions League this season, with Sevilla to come in the second round.
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
But these are short-term goals as part of a long-term vision.
United have it all mapped out, leaving it to Mourinho to work out a way to get the beating of Pep in his luxurious Lowry suite.
If he does, they will even pick up the tab.
Leave a comment