Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be named Manchester United boss

Manchester United are set to announce Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the new permanent boss at the club.

Solskjaer saw his side beat Fulham at Craven Cottage at the weekend, with a 3-0 win on Saturday afternoon. After the weekend’s fixtures, United sit in fourth place, back in the Champions League spots for the first time since the opening round of games in the Premier League.

The Norwegian is undefeated in all competitions with United, and he faces perhaps his toughest test yet tomorrow night, when he takes on Paris Saint-Germain at home in the Champions League first knockout round. With Thomas Meunier, Edinson Cavani and Neymar all out of contention it represents a chance for Solskjaer to gain a first-leg advantage ahead of what should prove to be a trickier away leg.

Regardless, media reports suggest that United are now keen to appoint him on a permanent basis, which would require a multi-million pound payment to his parent club Molde, who can probably get by happily enough with the cash injection as compensation.

Solskjaer has been helped by the brilliant run of results that he has overseen, but has been aided by wobbles at Arsenal and Chelsea. Tottenham Hotspur have also been slightly underwhelming, and Mauricio Pochettino is now considered second favourite. That comes in part because it would take at least £20 million to prise him away from Daniel Levy, who is clever enough and stubborn enough to extract the maximum possible amount from United in all circumstances.

United are also dragging their heels over the appointment of a director of football, which gives chief incompetent Ed Woodward the chance to dither and prolong any constructive transfers, and gives him the chance to splurge £100 million on Gareth Bale, and coax Sol Campbell out of playing retirement as defensive cover.