Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho appears to have taken a swipe at the club's scouting network.

Mourinho was sacked on December 18 after two and a half seasons in charge and the Red Devils 19 points behind leaders Liverpool at the time.

Discussing his next move, he told the : "My first item is structural empathy. I want to work with people that I love. People I want to work with, that I am happy to work with, with whom I share the same ideas. I don't want to be in a permanent contradiction [conflict] between what I think and the others think.

"It was what I had at Inter. There are clubs like this. Normally, that is a very important part of a successful club."

The Portuguese also said that he sees "five very close scouts" rather than "500 scouts that I never met in my life" as the ideal recruitment strategy for a club.