Has Jose Mourinho seemed a bit moody to you lately?

Not his standard moodiness, like when he makes a withering comment about Liverpool’s transfer policy, but a deeper malaise of bitterness, paranoia and negativity.

He seems like the kind of guy who could get a tub of Celebrations from a hospitalised Mancunian child at Christmas and then complain that there were not enough Twixes in it.

“Too much Milky Way in here. Why? You give Guardiola the box with many Twix? The boy likes him more? Why?”

The Special One just does not seem in a good place right now, and concerns are reportedly growing at Manchester United that it’s not him, it’s them.

Today’s Mail claims Old Trafford bosses fear Mourinho “could resign at the end of the season” after cutting an “increasingly detached” figure at the club.

He has allegedly “withdrawn more into the inner sanctum” of his coaching team and is spending “less and less time” in Manchester, instead making increasingly frequent visits to his home in London.

Why, we don’t know. Maybe it’s due to Manchester City’s dominance, or Romelu Lukaku’s lean spell, or Marouane Fellaini’s tense contract stand-off? Or maybe this is just what happens when you live in a hotel for 18 months. Even Alan Partridge didn’t hang around in Linton Travel Tavern that long.

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All is not lost yet though, because the Sun reports that the Red Devils hierarchy could cheer up Jose no end if they buy him Danny Rose this month.

Mourinho is said to be “urging” his superiors to lodge a £50m bid for the Tottenham left-back, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury but has insisted that it is absolutely not connected to his last knee injury, which kept him out for nine months.

Liverpool want Lemar to fill Coutinho void

Meanwhile, Liverpool have identified the man they want to replace Philippe Coutinho – and it’s the same man they tried to sign to replace Coutinho in the summer.

The Mirror says the Reds will “restart negotiations” to sign £90m-rated Monaco winger Thomas Lemar, as it becomes a matter of “when not if” Coutinho will move to Barcelona. Arsenal remain keen on Lemar but “now fear he prefers a move to Anfield”.

Tottenham are allegedly set to bow to the necessities of modern capitalism by smashing their wage structure to keep Harry Kane at the club. The Mail says Spurs will almost double their star striker’s salary with an offer of £200,000 a week.

That would make him the world’s highest paid English footballer and the joint-sixth top earner in the Premier League. He is currently joint 35th, behind the likes of Joe Hart and Chris Smalling.

He also earns less than Theo Walcott, although this hasn’t stopped a host of mid-table outfits sniffing around the Arsenal winger.

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The Express says Southampton, West Ham, Everton and Newcastle are all competing to sign Walcott, who has not started a league game all season. Maybe with regular first-team football he could get into England’s World Cup squad… haha.

Elsewhere, Internazionale are keen on signing Man Utd midfielder Juan Mata (Mirror), Man City want to spend £50m on Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez this month (Sun) and Southampton (who just sold Virgil van Dijk for £75m) have “promised funds” to manager Mauricio Pellegrino to strengthen his squad in January (Times). Well how very kind of them.

@darlingkevin