Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted he will miss Jose Mourinho if, as appears increasingly likely, the Chelsea manager quits Stamford Bridge at the end of the season.
"It would be disappointing for me because I have enjoyed his company," Ferguson said on Friday. "We always meet after the game when we have played each other and he has got a good personality. I enjoy the competition against him."
Rising speculation
There is rising speculation about Mourinho's long-term future at the London club after the former Porto manager revealed that he had been prevented from buying the players he wants during the current transfer window.
Despite enjoying huge success by leading Chelsea to back-to-back championships, Mourinho is believed to have fallen out with club owner Roman Abramovich and chief executive Peter Kenyon.
Ferguson has enjoyed a keen rivalry with the Portuguese manager that dates back to FC Porto's elimination of United on their way to winning the 2004 Champions League.
Mourinho has since enjoyed the better of their battles but Ferguson is on track to turn the tables this season with United holding a six-point advantage over second-placed Chelsea going into their match with Aston Villa yesterday.
Despite acknowledging that anything was possible in the game of football, Ferguson was skeptical about all the speculation surrounding Mourinho, which was further fuelled when the Chelsea boss refused to comment on his future earlier this week.
"Why would Jose tell everyone his plans?" Ferguson said. "I certainly wouldn't tell everyone my plans. All of a sudden everyone in the press seems to know what his plans are. So I take it all with a pinch of salt."
"The important thing is to make sure I'm still manager of Manchester United in May," he said. "I really don't know what is happening at Chelsea to be honest with you. It's normally us at Manchester United who are involved in these kind of stories. It's usually us that has thunderstorms and lightning and have players out for six weeks with operations that don't happen!"
Retaining his place
Henrik Larsson is expected to retain his place in the starting line-up against Villa, who United face for the second successive weekend, after his breathtaking debut for United last weekend.
The former Sweden striker marked his first appearance since joining on loan from Helsingborgs by scoring the first goal in the 2-1 victory over Villa in the third round of the FA Cup last Sunday.
"Henrik showed last week he can be a fantastic asset to us," said Ferguson, who refused to be drawn on speculation surrounding the former Barcelona player's future.
Helsingborgs have indicated they may be willing to allow Larsson to remain at United until the end of the season.
"At the moment Henrik is on loan here until March 12," said Ferguson. "We're not looking beyond that at this moment. Henrik is enjoying it here and that's where we've got to leave it for now."
United are expected to be at full strength as they look to stretch their unbeaten run to six matches, although defender Wes Brown will not feature as he has a virus.
"It's always difficult when you play the same team twice in the space of a few days," Ferguson said. "But one thing is for sure -- we hope to continue our form. There is a big incentive for us."
Ferguson said attempts to bring Bayern Munich's England midfielder Owen Hargreaves to Old Trafford are on-going.
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