'I would prefer Guardiola to Mourinho at United'

Cantona, who spent five years at Old Trafford and became a firm fan's favourite amongst the United faithful, told 'BBC Radio Four': "Mourinho is playing in this defensive way, which is not the identity of Manchester United.

"Both Guardiola and Mourinho are great, but I prefer attacking football, when it's more creative. It's the way I tried to play all my career."

Then later, speaking on 'BBC Radio 5 Live', the Frenchman added: "I cannot understand why United would take a manager who plays in a defensive way. I love Mourinho, but I prefer to watch Barcelona play.

"I prefer the way Guardiola plays, and I would prefer him as manager of Manchester United, it's more logical. I don't watch Man City because it's Man City but I would love to watch the team managed by Guardiola."

Mourinho himself was quick to defend his style of play with the Red Devils, when he was asked about it during a press conference ahead of Saturday's home match with Brighton.

He said: "More ambition than we do at home I think is quite difficult. I don't know who is more ambitious than us.

"We played against Newcastle with [Paul] Pogba, [Marcus] Rashford, [Anthony] Martial, [Juan] Mata, [Romelu] Lukaku.

"The full-backs are not full-backs - [Antonio] Valencia and Ashley Young. Everybody knows that they are wingers, not full-backs. So I don't know what you want."