Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he would still be at Chelsea had Roman Abramovich decided to keep him on last year.

Mourinho was sensationally fired in December less than halfway through the defence of Chelsea's 2014/15 Premier League title, with the Blues losing nine of their opening 16 games last season.

The Portuguese coach has since taken charge at United on a three-year deal after Louis van Gaal was sacked following a fifth-placed finish at Old Trafford last term.

Mourinho has moved swiftly to reshape the United squad with Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all arriving, and Paul Pogba heavily linked with a £100million transfer back to Manchester from Juventus.

Despite Mourinho's insistence that he is happy in his new role, the coach - who refused to sign a Chelsea shirt for a supporter on United's pres-season tour of China on Thursday - says his exit from Stamford Bridge was purely down to Blues owner Abramovich.

"I'm not at Chelsea because the owner didn't want me," The Sun quotes Mourinho as saying. "If he wanted me I would still be there."

Mourinho has a three-year contract with the option of a fourth year at Old Trafford, though the 53-year-old has never spent more than three years in a row at any one club.

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Despite his history, Mourinho says he is targeting a long career at United, adding: "To give me an extended contract I will be happy because it's what I want at this moment in my career. But it depends on many things.

"And I will try to do my work to make the owners realisers that I am the right guy for this job."