Manchester United Confirm Cost of Sacking Jose Mourinho and Staff Was £19.6M

Manchester United produced their half-yearly accounts on Thursday, which confirmed the cost of sacking former manager Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff was £19.6 million. 

Following the club's worst-ever start to a Premier League season, the Portuguese was given his marching orders in December. Mourinho's final game in charge was the limp 3-1 loss to Liverpool, a game in which the manager left the club's record signing Paul Pogba on the bench.

Given Mourinho signed a new contract until 2020 with the Red Devils in January 2018, the substantial cost of severing ties with their former manager was revealed, per Martyn Ziegler of The Times:

Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News provided further details of United's finances from the review:

Although Mourinho delivered two trophies in his first season at the club and a second-place finish in his second term, in the third it did appear as though the team had been taken as far as possible.

The performance at Anfield in December was indicative of a squad that had lost its way in 2018-19. There was no spark in attack, no control in midfield, and even in defence—a facet of the team where Mourinho is typically strong—the team lacked any kind of cohesion.

Even with United still in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and a battle for a top-four spot, it appeared inevitable that Mourinho would need to move on. 

Bleacher Report's Rob Blanchette was scathing in his assessment of the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss before he was eventually given the axe:

Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was given the job until the end of the campaign, the mood has shifted around Old Trafford, with the team suddenly playing with a fizz and functionality that was absent earlier on.

While Solskjaer suffered his first loss in the position since taking over on Tuesday in the 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, in the previous 11 games he had earned 10 wins and one draw. With that in mind, United's chief executive Ed Woodward paid tribute to the influence he has had on the team: 

Some have criticised the way Solskjaer approached the game against PSG, but Rob Dawson of ESPN suggested any negative points towards the manager are wide of the mark:

Having spent a large amount to get rid of Mourinho and his staff, United may be hesitant about paying big money in the summer to bring in another coach. 

According to Matt Hughes of The Times, if the Red Devils wanted to prise away Mauricio Pochettino from Tottenham Hotspur, it would cost them around £32 million. 

The Spurs boss is reported to be one of the club's main managerial targets, although Solskjaer's brilliant start—not to mention how little he would cost by comparison—has surely thrust him into the frame too.