Peter Schmeichel has said that he is “considering if I have the qualities” to be Manchester United’s director of football and that he could apply for the position if it is created in the new year.

José Mourinho was sacked as United’s manager last Tuesday and Ole Gunnar Solskjær appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season, but Schmeichel believes that further changes are necessary if the club is to taste once again the kind of success it enjoyed when both he and Solskjær played there under Sir Alex Ferguson.

“You only have to look at the table, to look at what’s been in the media over the last 12 months, the club is not in the right place,” he said. “There are so many issues that need to be addressed. It seems like some of the identity has gone away. Everyone who works at the club understands the culture, the tradition and the history of the football club. And when you look at it, it looks like some of it has gone out of the window.”

The club have suggested they will install a director of football and Schmeichel believes the ideal candidate would be “someone like me, who knows the club really well from the inside, who knows what the club is like and what it’s supposed to be.

“I’d like to see someone who’s played there and understands it, and can bring some of the Sir Alex Ferguson mentality back to the club,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek. “I think this is probably where the club has been lost a little bit since Alex left.”

Schmeichel, who won five league titles in eight seasons at Old Trafford, has worked in punditry since retiring in 2003 but is now looking to return to the sport.

“I’ve been reluctant because I haven’t seen anything that’s interesting enough to make the big change,” he said. “Then I’ve seen this role. At the moment I’m considering: ‘Do I have the qualities?’ And if I come up with a yes to that question, then I will put my name in the hat. I’ll have a good think about this over Christmas and New Year and make a decision about it.”