AFP, MANCHESTER: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised not to stand in the way of long-time assistant Rui Faria should he pursue ambitions of becoming a manager in his own right.

Buvac now leads the betting to become the man to succeed Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager at the end of the season, a role Faria has also been linked with.

Faria, like Mourinho, never played top-level football, but became a significant part of Mourinho’s coaching staff after meeting the future United manager during a seminar day at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium in 2000.

“You ask me if I think it would be a good fit and I say ‘yes’. And  he is more than my assistant, he is my friend,” said Mourinho of Faria’s credentials for the Arsenal job.

“If my friend has the possibility one day of a big job, I would help him to pack and to carry the bags and to wish him luck.”