COMMENT: Jorge Mendes is no grand puppet master, manipulating events to suit his needs. But you have to say, he does a pretty decent impression of one…

So, this week it all comes to a head. Jose Mourinho supposedly will field a formal approach from Manchester United and if they can meet his demands a deal will be done.

Among those assurances Mourinho is seeking is a clear management structure. The Special One, it seems, doesn’t want the decision-making muddied as it was at Chelsea in his final six months in charge.

Sounds reasonable, right? But what does having ‘a clear structure of command’, as the Telegraph noted on Sunday, actually truly entail? Y’see, Mendes was sending a message, a very public message, not to United’s chief representative in these negotiations, Ed Woodward, but above him, to the board. Mourinho and Mendes have identified the lack of football nous in management positions as a glaring weakness and for their plans to be fulfilled, the scattergun market approach of Woodward needs to end.

It’s clear the suggestion that Woodward stand aside and allow the football people deal with the football market – while he focuses on the commercial side – is being met with some resistance. Hence, this week’s public plea from the Mourinho camp about the make-up of United’s management.

A football director is on the agenda. Mendes has already mentioned Andrea Berta, the low-key Atletico Madrid chief, to Woodward in past conversations. That the hope of Atleti’s president, Enrique Cerezo, of Berta penning a new deal has remained unfulfilled for six months does suggest the Italian is waiting for something down the line. It’s the United job. Once Mourinho is confirmed, Berta is way out in front of leading candidates to break ground at United and become the club’s first formal director of football. Which will also mean Woodward having to relinquish some control.

We’re not at the Jorge Valdano stage yet. But Tribalfootball.com was told in February that on Mourinho’s side there was concern over who really was in charge of transfers. Not so much the financial side of things – Mourinho, like any top level manager, always works within the parameters set by the chief executive. But it was more about who was identifying the players to sign.

“(Daley) Blind and Memphis (Depay) are (Louis) Van Gaal’s players,” the source told us at the time. “(Anthony) Martial is essentially a (Ryan) Giggs player. And we know Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao came from the office. It’s all a bit messy.”

At Real Madrid, once he managed to force Valdano out, Mourinho worked closely with Jorge Angel Sanchez. At Inter Milan, his main sounding board was Lele Oriali. Both serious football men, happy to duck the limelight. Berta is in a similar vein.

Berta’s strength is his knowledge of the South American transfer market. He, more than anyone at Atleti, helped Diego Simeone secure long time target Angel Correa. It’s worth noting that Atletico were linked with Palmeiras striker Gabriel Jesus over the weekend, along with only one other European club… Manchester United.

Is Louis van Gaal marking time before the end of the season? Yes. How can we be so sure? Again, it’s Mendes.

We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth repeating. The pair are no friends. Though the relationship isn’t as frosty as at the height of the Di Maria and Falcao debacle last season, there’s little chance of Van Gaal and Mendes ever exchanging Christmas cards.

So the idea that Mendes would risk placing potentially his biggest earning client, Renato Sanches, at a Van Gaal-led United is remote in the extreme. Particularly when he’s also fielding offers from PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The Benfica kid can go anywhere he wants. He only made his first team debut in the final days of October. Now he has his pick of clubs. It’s incredible. Unheard of. That he’s chosen United, with the full backing of his agent, does suggest a change in the dugout is looming.

And there’ll be changes also in the front office. Mourinho doesn’t want to be dealing with United’s version of the Andriy Shevchenko calamity at Chelsea nor what he was faced this season with Abdul Rahman Baba and Papy Djilobodji.

He wants to live and die as a manager by his decisions alone. This will be made clear to Woodward in their meeting – just as it was to the board in Sunday’s press.

Contributed by  Chris Beattie from Tribalfootball.com