Giggs to leave Man United WE MEET TO PART . . . Jose Mourinho talks to Ryan Giggs when the Portuguese gaffer was still the manager at Chelsea. — Telegraph
WE MEET TO PART . . . Jose Mourinho talks to Ryan Giggs when the Portuguese gaffer was still the manager at Chelsea. — Telegraph

WE MEET TO PART . . . Jose Mourinho talks to Ryan Giggs when the Portuguese gaffer was still the manager at Chelsea. — Telegraph

LONDON. — Manchester United fear Ryan Giggs is on the verge of ending his near 29-year association with the club.

Giggs (42) was due to return yesterday from Dubai, where he has spent the past week deliberating over his future at Old Trafford, and is expected to hold talks with United’s new manager, Jose Mourinho, before the end of the week.

United have not yet given up hope that Giggs may stay at the club he joined on his 14th birthday, but they are aware of his disappointment at being overlooked for the manager’s job in the wake of Louis van Gaal’s sacking and his desire to try his hand at management.

Giggs, who served as No. 2 to Van Gaal and the Dutchman’s predecessor, David Moyes, is thought to have been offered a role as some sort of bridge between the first team and under-21 team.

The junior side could lose their coach, Warren Joyce, who is in the running to succeed Paul Lambert at Blackburn Rovers.

It is believed Giggs would want to remain part of the first-team set-up if he is to stay at United, but with Mourinho bringing trusted lieutenants Rui Faria and Silvino Louro, as well as fitness coach Carlos Lalin, with him, it is uncertain if the Portuguese could offer the Welshman a role that satisfies him.

Giggs had always been of a mind to walk away if he was not offered the top job — one he felt he had some assurances he would get from the club — but the reality of the situation has forced him to think carefully about his next move, conscious that if he leaves there are no guarantees he will one day return to manage the club.

Similarly, Giggs is believed to be wary about his prospects of being offered the job down the line if he does stay and after three difficult years under Moyes and Van Gaal he is keen to prove himself in his own right.

The most decorated player in British football may be forced to consider accepting a job at a lower level or move abroad — a situation that did not work out well for his close friend and former United team-mate Gary Neville, who was sacked in March after four months at Valencia — since openings at Premier League clubs this summer look scarce.

Joyce impressed Blackburn’s hierarchy when he was interviewed last week for the vacant manager’s job at Ewood Park.

The Championship club are thought to be keeping their options open, though, with a couple of other contenders in the running.

Meanwhile, Javier Hernández believes he would “probably have been the star” at Manchester United and subsequently Real Madrid had he been given the chance.

Hernández was at United for five years up to last summer and scored 37 goals in 103 Premier League games [49 starts and 54 appearances off the bench]. He spent 2014-15 on loan at Real but was rarely a starter for them.

Since joining Bayer Leverkusen in August, however, the 28-year-old Mexico international has started in all but three of his 28 Bundesliga appearances and scored 17 goals. “If I’d had more chances at United or Real, I’d probably have been ‘the star’ there as well,” he said. “We’ll never know.”

In numbers | Ryan Giggs’s United career

Debut: March 2, 1991 v Everton

Appearances: 963

Goals: 168

Trophies:

Premier League x 13

European Cup x 2

FA Cup x 4

League Cup x 3

Community Shield x 9

Uefa Super Cup x 1

Intercontinental Cup x 1

Fifa Club World Cup x 1. — Telegraph.

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