The Portuguese is fighting for his future at the moment but not everybody is convinced he should go, with arguments to be considered on both sides

Barely a single word was uttered on Valencia on Monday as Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was instead left to field countless questions about his future and the demeanour of his squad ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with the Spanish outfit at Old Trafford.

Saturday's 3-1 defeat to West Ham increased the pressure on the under-fire Portuguese, with United slipping to 10th place in the Premier League table after a shambolic showing in the capital.

But while some have claimed that Zinedine Zidane has been lined up as a potential replacement, Mourinho remains in the job for now as the Red Devils look to fight their way out of a full-blown crisis.

Is now the right time to pull the trigger, or does Mourinho deserve more time? Goal runs through the reasons why United should sack him and those why he should be saved.

Getty1SAVE HIM: The costly pay-off

Even if a consensus is reached that firing Mourinho is the right thing to do given the context, the Portuguese’s exit is set to cost Manchester United a huge amount of money. With the best part of two years left on his Old Trafford deal and a club option for a further 12 months, the manager stands to gain a further £33 million during his United stay thanks to his £12m agreement.

It is believed that there is a clause in his deal though which would allow the club to pay him a £12m settlement should they decide to sack him before the end of the 2019-20 season, cutting between £9m and £21m off their total expected outlay.

But that would mean the club having to fork out £12m to pay off Mourinho even before considering the cost of taking on a new manager’s salary and signing-on bonuses, which would make it one almighty outlay for the miserly Ed Woodward to countenance.AdvertisementGetty2SAVE HIM: This is hardly a surprise to United

What exactly did United expect they were going to get when they appointed Mourinho in 2016? They sacked Louis van Gaal within 48 hours of winning the FA Cup because they wanted the closest thing they could find to guaranteed success at whatever cost.

They knew what Mourinho had got up to in the past, but they bought into it. They knew he’d demand costly changes to the squad to get them competing, but they bought into it. They knew they risked alienating those fans who want more than anything to see flowing football, but they bought into it.

Changing now would abandon yet another strategy – a third different vision in little over five years – and the need to develop a new one could be further damaging to a club which is desperately looking to pick a direction and stick to it.GETTY3SAVE HIM: Can a successor be expected to make a huge difference?

Which brings us to the replacement. United should only sack Mourinho if they are certain they can bring in an upgrade, and that is not necessarily the case right now. Of course, Zinedine Zidane’s name has been widely linked and Mourinho was even asked on Monday whether the Frenchman had called to say he was not after the United job.

But while Zidane comes with a pedigree having won three straight Champions Leagues, he took the job at Real Madrid with a squad of superstars already waiting for him. At United he would have a promising first XI but not too much else beyond that, leaving him with a far different proposition than the one which saw him achieve unprecedented success at the Santiago Bernabeu.

United were keen on Mauricio Pochettino before selecting Mourinho in 2016 and the Tottenham boss would be a fair target come next summer. But an immediate change in boss could rule out the Argentine, and the chance to make a considered appointment of a man who puts football first might be spurned as a result.Getty4SAVE HIM: Mourinho is not the start and end of United's problems

While there is a clear issue with Mourinho, it is not United’s only area of concern right now… not by a long chalk. Bringing in a new manager will not do anything to resolve the fact that the Glazers’ takeover continues to cost the club around 80 per cent of its operating profit. It will also not address the fact that there is a serious lack of football-savvy decision-makers knocking around the club and executive vice-chair Ed Woodward gives the impression of a man out of his depth in the transfer arena.

And similarly a change of regime will not automatically fill the gaps in United’s anaemic squad, nor will it bring the bigger names into line without the perfect appointment being made upon Mourinho’s exit. The manager has fought for more care to be placed into the upkeep of the playing staff but the board have not been willing to do that, so why wouldn’t more of the same be in store for the next incumbent without greater support from the boardroom?