There’s a budget hotel across the road from Old Trafford—the kind that comes attached with a carvery restaurant. Given the level of recent speculation, it’s not too difficult to envisage Jose Mourinho has pitched up there in recent weeks; ordering takeaway pizza to his room under false names, peering out the window for a glimpse of any black smoke from the Manchester United chimney.

Indeed, so many reports of Mourinho’s impending appointment at Old Trafford (like this one by Dominic King of the Daily Mail) have surfaced over the past few weeks that it’s difficult to envisage a scenario where the two-time Champions League winner doesn’t take over at United for the start of next season. The Special One, finally, appears to be the Chosen One.

But regardless of how badly Mourinho wants the job, is he really the right man to take over from Louis Van Gaal—assuming the Dutchman is handed his papers between now and the summer?

Of course, the 53-year-old is arguably the greatest football manager of his generation, but something seems wide of the mark about his expected appointment at United.

Instead, club executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward should be looking to make an appointment that’s more in keeping with United’s identity. It has been repeated more than once recently that Mourinho is the only option for the Old Trafford side, but that’s not true. Mauricio Pochettino holds just as strong a claim for the job.

Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 away win over Manchester City on Sunday further highlighted the extent to which he has turned around the north London side in the space of just over 18 months, taking top-four wannabes and turning them into bona fide title challengers. But Pochettino’s United suitability is about more than just results.

The Argentinian’s style of play is in sync with what is expected by those at Old Trafford who have become accustomed to watching dynamic, free-flowing and, most importantly, exciting football over the past two decades.

The standard of Spurs’ play this season offers a teaser as to what Pochettino could achieve at United—where he would be afforded even greater resources.

But Pochettino’s suitability goes beyond his ideology and practices as a football coach. His current standing in the game also makes him the perfect fit for Manchester United—a club that has always done best when acting as a finishing school for football’s up and coming. It’s a thread woven through their makeup as a club.

Time and time again, United have been stung by buying the finished product in a manner that isn’t befitting of the club’s greater identity.

Angel Di Maria was regarded as one of the best in the world when he arrived at Old Trafford for a Premier League record £59.7 million fee, and yet the Argentinian winger flopped in England. The same happened with Radamel Falcao, with Bastian Schweinsteiger something of a disappointment so far as well.

The trend can be traced all the way back to the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron nearly 15 years ago, with the £28.1 million signing from Lazio largely failing to live up to his billing. Even Robin Van Persie—an undoubted success in his first season at United—faded quickly. 

Contrast such fortunes with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, David De Gea and Nemanja Vidic, who were brought to England with great promise and were given the chance to make good on that at Old Trafford. Pochettino is the coaching equivalent of such company. 

And yet Mourinho is still widely considered the man in-waiting at United. The former Inter Milan and Real Madrid coach is known to be keen on a return to England (per James Walker-Roberts of Sky Sports), with his dismissal from Chelsea earlier this season still stinging. From his perspective, the allure of the Premier League’s biggest club, in need of a saviour, is obvious.

In so many ways, Mourinho’s appointment at United makes no sense at all, and yet it’s widely agreed to be the only possible response the Red Devils can offer to the looming arrival of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City this summer.

Mourinho is seemingly the only adversary to ever get the better of the former Barcelona boss, even if the Portuguese ultimately unravelled himself.

But United’s reported pursuit of the Portuguese only underlines the existential crisis the club is currently suffering. The Old Trafford club were once one of the most characterful in Europe, but they are unsure of their personalty in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson age. By edging closer to United, Mourinho’s arrival would only serve to accentuate that.

There are still those among the Old Trafford hierarchy (most notably Sir Bobby Charlton, per Jamie Jackson of the Guardian) who remain suspicious of Mourinho.

They are wary of his off-the-field antics and abrasive public persona. Despite his recent efforts to prove to the contrary, the arrival of Guardiola in Manchester might bring out such traits in Mourinho once more. 

Pochettino is a different type of manager, cutting a more reserved and measured figure in the media. In essentially every way, he is the better fit for Manchester United, on and off the pitch. He has demonstrated enough at Spurs to suggest that he could handle the step up in expectation, just as he did in swapping Southampton for White Hart Lane. 

The appointment of Mourinho would only paper over some fairly sizeable cracks at United. His track record illustrates his lack of capacity in sustaining anything over three years, and after the stop-gap hiring of Van Gaal, another short-term fix is not what is needed at Old Trafford. Instead, the club could give Pochettino the opportunity to mould the club in his own image.

If United are open to the idea of looking beyond Mourinho—doing their research beyond whatever stats and reasoning the Portuguese coach provided in his letter—then Pochettino is surely a credible candidate to take over at Old Trafford. He might, in fact, be the only credible candidate.

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