Neville Claims Jose Mourinho Is The Key Reason Why Another Ex Chelsea Boss Won’t Replace Solskjaer

Neville Claims Jose Mourinho Is The Key Reason Why Another Ex Chelsea Boss Won’t Replace Solskjaer

Gary Neville claims Manchester United won’t appoint Antonio Conte if they do decide to dispense with the services of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The pressure on the Norwegian has increased after yesterday’s 4-2 defeat to Leicester, which has left the Red Devils trailing league leaders Chelsea by five points after just eight games.

Conte would be among the favourites to come in, considering he has won the Premier League title before and is currently out of work. However, Neville feels he is a similar coach to Jose Mourinho and he doesn’t think United will go down that route again:


“Conte won’t be the manager at Manchester United I don’t think. I don’t think they’ll go for that option, personally. He’s a great manager but I think certain managers fit certain clubs and I don’t think Conte fits United personally. As I say, great manager but doesn’t feel right for me that one… I’m not into that, giving someone a squad. We tried that with Jose. ‘Give Jose a squad and we’ll definitely win the league’. We didn’t, and in the end, it was a mess and everybody wanted him out.”

It will be interesting to see how long United’s board hold out for with Solskjaer. Reliable sources suggest that they are still 100% behind the manager but, with some extremely difficult fixtures coming up over the next month, a decision may have to be made soon.

Neville’s point about Conte is a valid one. He creates squads built for winning in the short term, but United’s current plan is targeting success over a longer period. There are other managers out there, though, who would fit the criteria better.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.