Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the man he replaced as Manchester United manager will have no trouble finding a new job, after Jose Mourinho ruled out retiring from football in an interview with beIN SPORTS.
The Portuguese said he is ‘too young’ to leave the game in his first punditry appearance since being dismissed by the Red Devils last month.
“I want to coach,” he said. “I am too young, I am in football for a long, long time, but I will be 56 in a couple of weeks and am really too young.
“Where I am going to stay is where I belong, I belong to top football. I belong to top-level football and (that) is where I am going to be.”
Mourinho’s desire to stay in top level football has been questioned with many doubting whether an elite team would risk hiring a manager who has been sacked by both his last two clubs.
Chelsea dismissed the Portuguese in December 2015 after losing nine of 16 Premier League matches that season, while United chiefs axed Mourinho with the club 19 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
However, Solskjaer – who was hired as United’s caretaker manager following Mourinho’s dismissal – believes he will easily find a new job when he wants to take one.
When asked about Mourinho’s comments in a press conference, Solskjaer said: “Yeah, why shouldn’t he?
“Because he’s a fantastic manager and with the results he’s had, I don’t think he’ll be struggling to find work.”
Mourinho could have one option to return to coaching one of Europe’s elite, with Real Madrid reportedly keen on bringing him back to the Bernabeu.
The 55-year-old spent three years with Real in which time he won three trophies, and Florentino Perez, the club’s president, is believed to want him back in charge of Los Blancos after the ill-fated summer appointment of Julen Lopetegui and hiring of Santiago Solari on an interim basis in October.