Zinedine Zidane makes contacts with Manchester United, keen on replacing Jose Mourinho

Mourinho’s side were also FA Cup finalists but were beaten by Eden Hazard’s penalty at Wembley in May.

And pundit Chris Sutton thinks Mourinho is damaging United’s brand and may be sacked as a result.

“Not only has Jose Mourinho risked alienating his players and the fans in pre-season but he is damaging Manchester United’s brand, too. Carry on like this and he won’t be at the club come Christmas,” he said.

“Mourinho, the figurehead of the world’s biggest football club, told the 101,000 supporters who watched United’s 4-1 defeat by Liverpool in Michigan that they should have stayed away.

“He is starting to sound like a manager who wants out. To start dishing out ultimatums on transfer spending smacks of desperation. Once you start taking on the board, there is usually only one winner.

“Should Mourinho continue in this vein and his side suffer a slow start to the season, United will rapidly run out of patience.”

United began their Premier League season with a 2-1 win over Leicester on Friday thanks to goals from Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw.

They next face Brighton as they travel to the south coast on Sunday (4pm).