Manchester United have asked rivals Manchester City if they could give their new managerial target a lift to Old Trafford.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim is the promising young manager United have identified to replace former promising young manager Erik ten Hag.
City are in Lisbon to finalise a deal for Sporting director of football Hugo Viana and cash-strapped United are hoping to capitalise on this fortuitous coincidence by hitching a ride for Amorim back to Manchester.
It follows United’s ill-fated attempt to convince City to allow the Reds’ two Kopa Trophy nominees Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo to sponge a lift on their private jet to Monday night’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris.
‘Worth a punt’, United co-owner Sir Jim Radcliffe told Paddy Power News.
‘It’s my responsibility to be more frugal with the club’s finances. Particularly after I extended Erik’s contract in the summer, sacked him to the tune of £17m and then paid £10m to get Ruben from Sporting.
‘But this isn’t a question of money. We must start thinking about the environment and the unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions caused by us chartering our own private jet’, added the 72-year-old, while cutting a 2-for-1 offer food coupon out of a booklet.
Paddy Power News also understands United have asked Amorim to buy his own training gear in the club’s megastore and install a pay-as-you-go electric meter in his office at Carrington.
Meanwhile, there have been unconfirmed reports that former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has been spotted in the Old Trafford tunnel just hours before Ruud van Nistelrooy takes charge of his first game as United’s interim boss.
Club sources claim Keown has been jumping in the air with his arms outstretched like some 58-year-old Oxfordshire vampire waiting to sink his fangs into the neck of the unsuspecting Dutchman.
However, club officials maintain that Van Nistelrooy’s decision to appear at a pre-match press conference equipped with a mallet, wooden stake and a garlic necklace was purely coincidental.
*Paddy Power News’s footy news is pure fantasy – don’t believe it for a second
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