Paul Scholes believes Jose Mourinho deliberately got himself sacked as manager of Manchester United.

The Portuguese coach was dismissed as first-team manager of United in December of last year after an under-whelming start to the new season.

Scholes often spoken critically of the approach adopted under Mourinho, and speaking nearly a month on from the manager's exit, the former England international suggested Mourinho engineered his way out of Old Trafford.

"I felt he (Mourinho) didn't want to be there," Scholes told Norwegian TV station TV2. "He engineered his move away perfectly in the end.

"His press conferences were embarrassing, so negative, it was obvious in the end the players didn't want to play for him. The right thing happened in the end.

"I was just being honest about the questions put to me and what I was seeing from the manager.

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"He started complaining very early on in pre-season, saying the kids weren’t good enough, which I didn’t like from the start."

Scholes even managed to pinpoint the incident which first led him to believe Mourinho was looking for a way out of United, suggesting his fractured relationship with club captain Antonio Valencia proved something wasn't right.

The United legend added: "He fell out with Antonio Valencia who is the nicest man in the world. It’s impossible to fall out with Antonio Valencia.

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"That was a big sign for me that something wasn’t quite right."