Man Utd news: Zinedine Zidane and Antonio Conte stances REVEALED (Image: GETTY)
Manchester United sacked Mourinho on Tuesday and, in the time since, have been backed to lure either Zidane or Conte to Old Trafford.
For the time being, the job has been passed onto club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has been loaned from Norwegian club Molde for a fee of £1.5million.
Manchester United are understood to crave the appointment of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, with reports claiming they are ready to pay £42million to lure him to the club.
And transfer expert Ian McGarry has claimed the Red Devils have ALREADY been snubbed by Antonio Conte and Zidane.
“Manchester United have approached Zinedine Zidane on two occasions in the last four months to take over and he has flat turned them down,” he told The Transfer Window podcast.
“I’m told the representatives between the club and Antonio Conte had a conversation in the last six weeks and the response was the same.
“Now, forgive me if I’m wrong here, but if you’re a Manchester United fan, even if you are someone in the media who has covered Manchester United over the last five, 10, 15 years, that is a situation which is almost unimaginable.
“Who doesn’t want to manage Manchester United? It’s just crazy. You get one chance to do it.
“But I think that people have - and by this I mean Zidane and his advisors, and Conte and his advisors, and maybe other people as well - have looked at the situation as being dysfunctional to the point whereby Manchester United has become a club that is very difficult to make succeed on the pitch because of the boardroom structure, because of the apprehension or lack of ambition in the administrators to make the team successful on the pitch.
“And for Manchester United that is just unrecognisable and it’s something which I think [Ed] Woodward and his cohorts have to face up to when it comes to what is now the future for Manchester United and how they progress.”
Man Utd news: Jose Mourinho was sacked as manager on Tuesday (Image: GETTY)
Also speaking on the Transfer Window podcast was journalist Duncan Castles.
And he feels Conte would not be suited to the Red Devils job.
“I think Antonio Conte would be very much interested in the job,” he added.
“He [is] interested at having another go at Premier League football, but more importantly looking for a job where he has the opportunity to win the Champions League.
“And if you could get the resources of Manchester United trammelled into a fashion where the manager was allowed to do what he wants in the transfer market, with commercial considerations etc taken away, with the ability to shift players out who he didn’t think were acceptable, I think that would be appealing to Antonio Conte.
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Man Utd news: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has temporarily replaced Jose Mourinho (Image: GETTY)
Man Utd: Zidane talks have 'already happened' says pundit
“From the Manchester United perspective, in the sense of a fit to the club, I don’t see it.
“I don’t see how Conte, the way he sets his team up, has got anything to do with the fabled Manchester United attacking traditions.
“If you’re worried about conflict with the players, you can multiply Jose Mourinho by two with Antonio Conte.
“Or if you’re worried about conflict with the board, same situation.
“If you’re worried about conflict over transfer decisions, over the director of football that the club wants to bring in, same quandary, same problem.
“So I think he’s interested, but I’d be very surprised if he gets the job and if he does get the job what that would be telling you is that the board have failed to get their preferred appointment in place.”