Manchester: Ryan Giggs is due to return from holiday in Dubai on Tuesday ahead of an anticipated meeting with Jose Mourinho later this week amid the prospect of the former winger ending his near 29-year association with Manchester United.
Giggs, 42, has spent the past week in Dubai deliberating his future, with United thought to have offered him a role as a bridge between the first team and under-21s.
It remains to be seen if he opts to stay at the club he joined as a 14-year-old, but while there is a chance he has already made a decision, he is expected at least to listen to what Mourinho, the new manager, and the club have to say.
If those talks have the potential to be somewhat awkward, so did Mourinho’s Monday morning meeting with Sir Bobby Charlton, the United director and iconic former player who has been critical of the Portuguese in the past.
Mourinho was warmly welcomed by Charlton, who offered his congratulations and told the former Chelsea manager he was “very happy to see you” during a tour of United’s Carrington training base.
But that was in stark contrast to an interview Charlton had given in 2012, when he struggled to conceal his misgivings about Mourinho after being asked about the then Real Madrid coach poking Tito Vilanova, at the time Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Barcelona, in the eye towards the end of a tempestuous Spanish Super Cup tie the previous year. “A United manager wouldn’t do that,” Charlton had said. “Mourinho is a really good coach but that’s as far as I would go really. He pontificates too much for my liking. He’s a good manager, though.”
There was little evidence of frostiness between the pair yesterday, even if there was a staged air to the footage captured by MUTV, United’s official television station. Mourinho light-heartedly suggested Charlton should only congratulate him after United start winning matches and joked about the impact of Charlton’s two goals for England in Portugal’s World Cup semi-final defeat in 1966. “You killed my country’s dream in 1966, but even so, all the best,” Mourinho said, before putting his arm around Charlton.
Mourinho is eager to hit the ground running at United and the club are confident of finalising a 12-month contract extension for Michael Carrick within the next week. Carrick, 34, feared United’s FA Cup triumph over Crystal Palace would be his final game for the club after no contract offer had been forthcoming, but Mourinho’s appointment changed the landscape, with the new manager expressing his desire to keep the veteran England midfielder for another year.
