Manchester United are feverishly attempting to dissuade Carlos Queiroz from leaving the club to take up the post of Portugal coach, despite a reluctance within Old Trafford to offer Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant the guarantee that he will succeed the Scot when he finally retires as manager.
Queiroz is understood to be considering the offer a £1.4m-a-year package to guide Portugal to the 2010 World Cup following Luiz Felipe Scolari's departure from the role in favour of the manager's position at Chelsea.
Ferguson, back at work with Queiroz for United's first day of pre-season training yesterday (Weds), has made it clear to chief executive David Gill that he is determined to retain the services of his highly-respected assistant and talks between all three parties have taken place in an effort to prevent a parting of the ways.
But although United are prepared to improve Queiroz's terms, no deal will be struck to anoint him as Ferguson's successor due to the open-ended timescale of Ferguson's future plans.
Although Queiroz has resisted interest from Benfica and Sporting Lisbon since returning to Old Trafford as Ferguson's assistant in 2004 following a year-long stint as manager at Real Madrid, both Ferguson and Gill are aware of the attractions of international management to the 55-year-old, whose previous one-year reign as Portugal manager in the early-1990's was followed by spells in charge of the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
Ferguson has made no secret of his admiration for the work performed by Queiroz at Old Trafford and the Mozambique-born coach was credited with playing a major role in last season's Champions League triumph by the United manager.
Queiroz's vast network of contacts on the continent and in Africa enabled United to steal a march on their rivals when signing the likes of Nani, Anderson and the Angola forward Manucho over the past 12 months and his close relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo is also regarded as key in the club's attempts to keep the player out of Real Madrid's clutches. And at sixty-six, Ferguson has delegated much of the day-to-day running of the United team to Queiroz, thereby increasing his importance at the club's Carrington training ground.
Agostinho Oliveira, a former Portugal coach, believes that the lure of a return to international football could tempt Queiroz, however.
He said: "I think it would be possible to get him. I know Carlos's personality and his way of dealing with situations around him. His desire to serve the national team and the country, and to carry out a rebuilding work, could persuade him to take hold of the reins."
