Paul Scholes: 'Jose Mourinho deliberately got himself sacked at Manchester United'

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has suggested that Jose Mourinho deliberately got himself sacked as manager of the club.

Mourinho parted company with the Red Devils last month having slipped 19 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool amid continuous reports of player unrest behind the scenes.

Scholes was a regular critic of Mourinho's style during his Old Trafford tenure, and the former midfielder believes that the Portuguese boss "engineered" his exit from the club.

"I felt he didn't want to be there. He engineered his move away perfectly in the end," Scholes told Norwegian TV station TV2.

"His press conferences were embarrassing, so negative, it was obvious in the end the players didn't want to play for him. The right thing happened in the end. He fell out with Antonio Valencia who is the nicest man in the world. It's impossible to fall out with Antonio Valencia. That was a big sign for me that something wasn't quite right.

"I was just being honest about the questions put to me and what I was seeing from the manager. He started complaining very early on in pre-season, saying the kids weren't good enough, which I didn't like from the start."

United have won all six of their matches since Mourinho's departure, with interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer making the best start of any manager in the club's history.