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Jose Mourinho's backroom staff were officially unveiled by Manchester United on 7 July. For the third time in four years, their arrival signified a complete overhaul behind the scenes at Carrington and Old Trafford.

After years of relative stability and occasional individual promotions or departures under Sir Alex Ferguson, the three managers who followed him have each elected to bring their preferred backroom team with them.

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That was a fairly controversial move when it involved David Moyes getting rid of Rene Meulensteen, for example, but this time, with the possible exception of Ryan Giggs' departure, it is a little more run-of-the-mill. This time new manager Mourinho is replacing Louis van Gaal stalwarts like Albert Stuivenberg with his own people.

But who are the men tasked with assisting the Portuguese manager in his new duties? Let's take a look at who he has brought with him to Old Trafford.

Rui Faria

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Rui Faria will likely be the most familiar name among the new United staff. He is Mourinho's most trusted lieutenant, part of his backroom team at Uniao de Leiria, Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter and Real Madrid.

When Mourinho's second spell at Chelsea began, he said of Faria, per Chelsea TV (h/t Daily Mail): "'Rui as we know is my methodology right arm, the guy that understands best my information and the way I work. He’s been with me since the beginning, the same as Silvino [of whom more later]."

In an interview with BT Sport (h/t Joe.ie), Mourinho was asked about former members of his staff who have gone on to become managers. He replied: "The one that has more potential than any other one, the one that if he wants to become a manager tomorrow he is more than ready to do it at the highest level [...] is my assistant, Rui Faria."

Given Mourinho's "in the boat or off it" style of management, as outlined by Jason Burt of the Telegraph, it is clear that Faria is committed to his role and to Mourinho. They have navigated a lot of choppy waters together, and the level of trust required for Mourinho to keep someone by his side since 2001 speaks volumes.

On 8 July, Liam Twomey of ESPN FC wrote:

Faria's main remit is still as a fitness coach, tasked with devising ways to maintain the peak condition of players and minimise the risk of injuries. But over time his role has broadened as Mourinho's trust in him has grown, and in recent years he has also regularly advised his manager on tactical and strategic matters both on and off the pitch.

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It is fair to call him a controversial figure. He is fairly combustible, getting sent to the stands when Chelsea played Sunderland in April 2014 after an explosion of rage, for example. In 2010, Emily Benammar wrote in an article for the Telegraph:

Though serving a touchline ban for Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final clash with Bayern Munich in 2005, Mourinho's fitness coach Rui Faria was seen wearing a woolly hat and often scratching his ear, raising suspicions that he was wearing an ear piece with his manager feeding him instructions.

It seems reasonable to predict there will be at least one Faria-related incident that attracts headlines during their spell at United, but he was always going to be part of the package. Where Mourinho goes, Faria goes.

Silvino Louro/Emilio Alvarez

Silvino is, as Mourinho said, another of those who has been with him "since the beginning." He is a goalkeeping coach, having been a 'keeper in his playing days—earning 23 caps for Portugal.

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There is an interesting wrinkle here, though, given Mourinho has also brought Emilio Alvarez to Old Trafford. The former Atletico Madrid 'keeping coach has been widely described as a mentor to David De Gea.

According to Adam Crafton of the Daily Mail, when De Gea was an Atletico youngster, then-manager Quique Sanchez Flores asked about the goalkeepers at the club:

Flores asked Alvarez's opinion on the club's three goalkeepers—Sergio Asenjo, Roberto and rookie De Gea. Alvarez said: "El Nino (the boy) is the best one." Flores replied: "Are you serious? He is weak physically, he looks like a little boy."

As history has told, he was most certainly serious. Crafton also writes:

Alvarez is a close friend of Jorge Mendes, Jose Mourinho's agent. It is likely that Mendes and De Gea recommended the coach. The recruitment of Alvarez is the clearest sign yet that De Gea now sees his long-term future to be at United and holds aspirations to be the club captain.

There is precedent for Sivino working alongside another player-specific member of staff. When Mourinho returned to Chelsea, Christophe Lollichon retained his position as goalkeeping coach thanks to his long-standing link with Petr Cech—indeed Lollichon remains at Chelsea in spite of Cech's departure.

Silivino, then, may have a broader remit than just coaching the 'keepers, which makes sense given his relationship with Mourinho. Like Faria, he is very much in the boat. At Chelsea, his job title was assistant first-team coach, per Matt Hughes of the Times. At United, he is described on the club's website simply as a coach.

Ricardo Formosinho

Ricardo Formosinho has been Mourinho's "opposition scout" before, at Porto and Real Madrid, per the Sun.

Since leaving Madrid, Formosinho had spent time managing Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Malaysian sports website FourthOfficial.com wrote: "Unfortunately, his Malaysian stint merely lasted for three months, as he was sacked after a string of poor performances."

However, Mourinho clearly trusts him to help provide the opposition dossiers that form part of his managerial approach. Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian wrote:

Mourinho would always present his team with dossiers on their opponents. "One of the most important aspects about José, which I support, is that the other team has to be the one making the changes, you have to keep your own identity," said Costinha, who was Porto’s defensive midfielder at the time. "Of course, he would give us detailed information about the team we were facing next at the start of the training week and more precisely about the player that would be closest to our area of play. 'What was the player like? Did he have a tendency to get many cards? What kind of movements did he make?' It was new for many of us back then, but it was very helpful and meant we were much better prepared for each match."

This was one of Andre Villas-Boas' tasks during his time under Mourinho, but now the responsibility will presumably fall in part to Formosinho.

Carlos Lalin

Carlos Lalin is a fitness specialist, who has previously worked with Mourinho at Real Madrid and Chelsea. He was the man charged with helping Diego Costa recover from returning from pre-season overweight at the beginning of last season.

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Mourinho said of Costa, as reported by Dominic Fifield of the Guardian: "We tried to recover from the mistake and establish programmes to get him back into physical condition. He did that with [the fitness coach] Carlos Lalin in the gym and was working in terms of controlling his food, also, with relation to weight."

United are the third club at which Mourinho has employed Lalin, putting the Venezuelan firmly in the "trusted lieutenant" bracket alongside Faria and Silvino.

Giovanni Cerra

Giovanni Cerra has arrived as an analyst, presumably working in conjunction with Foromosinho. Cerra was part of his setup at Chelsea.

During his time there, the club's website described his role (h/t International Business Times) as being to "analyse match action and works alongside the first-team match analysis department, producing visual reports and infographics that illustrate relevant data and strategies."

Those are the men who make up Mourinho's core first-team staff. There is a clear prioritisation of loyalty and experience of his methods in their makeup. The only obvious gap is someone with pre-existing United experience. Moyes opted for Giggs and Phil Neville to form part of his team, and Van Gaal kept Giggs on board.

Perhaps there is room in the team for a Gary Neville or Rio Ferdinand-type figure, although the current staff means there will be no political machinations should things fail to go smoothly.

What the group lack in inside knowledge of United, they more than make up for in experience and history with the club's iconic new manager.