Signed & Sealed: Jose Mourinho Appointed New Manchester United Coach

According to an authoritative report on Sky Sports, Portuguese tactician, Jose Mourinho, has put pen to paper at a central London hotel at around 5:00pm on Thursday to succeed Louis van Gaal as the new boss at Old Trafford.

Sky Sports News HQ exclusively broke the news after Mourinho returned home at 5.20pm with documents in his hand and a bottle of red wine, having met with United's executive vice chairman Ed Woodward to complete the deal.

Mourinho symbolically wore a black and red tie for the final stage of negotiations, and the deal is completed on the 12th anniversary of his winning the Champions League for the first time with Porto, knocking out United on their run to the final.

Mourinho, who has been out of work since being sacked by Chelsea in December, replaces his former mentor Van Gaal, who was dismissed by United two days after they won the FA Cup against Crystal Palace at Wembley.

On Tuesday, talks between Mourinho's agent, Jorge Mendes were well underway via phone and email and Sky sources reported that negotiations were expected to be a formality, to be completed within 48 hours.

But Mendes and Manchester United owner, Ed Woodward were forced to meet at United's offices in central London to rectify a number of image rights issues, including Chelsea's ownership of Mourinho's name.

Those issues were smoothly resolved over the course of Wednesday and Thursday and Mourinho emerged from his Chelsea home shortly before 3:00pm, suited and booted for the first time this week, where he left to seal a job he has wanted since Sir Alex Ferguson famously stood down in 2013.