Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was ‘desperate’ to sign Breel Embolo as Schalke chief reveals five-hour deal

JOSE MOURINHO was ‘desperate’ to sign Breel Embolo for Manchester United.

That’s according to Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel, who helped the Germans land the striker ahead of Mourinho’s Red Devils this summer.

Embolo surprised many when he opted for Schalke in June despite being chased by some of Europe’s top clubs.

Barcelona, Wolfsburg and Arsenal had all shown interested in the Switzerland international, but reports claimed United were leading the race for his signature.

Mourinho apparently tried to pull out all the stops for Embolo, including offering him £74,000-a-week wages, but the 19-year-old decided that a £20million switch to Schalke would be the best choice for his career.

Big things are expected from Embolo, who was ranked sixth on the list of world football’s most valuable players under the age of 21 and will now replace Manchester City-bound Leroy Sane as Schalke’s main threat in attack.

Embolo is already showing his class for the Bundesliga giants in pre-season, and sporting director Heidel has revealed how the club sealed a deal in under five hours in order to beat off fierce competition from Mourinho and other top bosses.

Heidel said: “There are a number of reasons why we signed Embolo.

“First and foremost there are sporting reasons. It’s nothing new that he is a great player. There is a reason why Mourinho desperately wanted to sign him for Manchester United.

“But we also see him as a player the Schalke fans can identify with, a bit like Benedikt Howedes, Leroy Sane and someone like Ralf Fahrmann.

“Embolo had a similar role at Basel, where 80 per cent of the shirts they sold had his name on it. He is very open, is always smiling and makes it easy for people to like him.

“When we realised there was a possibility that we could miss out on signing him due to other clubs’ interest, we had to move fast. President Clemens Tonnies happily made his plane available. We flew out to Montpellier at 1300CET and returned five hours later. We had wrapped up the deal in that short period.”