Jose Mourinho has found himself at the centre of discussion in English football once again - or rather he's put himself there.

After riding high with victories over rivals Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League, Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League to an unfancied Sevilla side.

The performance at Old Trafford was derided by virtually everyone who saw it, with many wondering if Mourinho was finished as an elite manager.

Not that he agreed, of course, as he explained after the game that United exiting the Champions League early was actually par for the course, taking extra care to remind people that he's eliminated them twice in his career.

Mourinho then used his press conference ahead of the FA Cup clash with Brighton to embark on a 12-minute explanation of why United can't be expected to challenge in Europe as they don't have the "football heritage" to do so.

Mourinho is sort of right when he says that United haven't done well in the Champions League recently - they haven't - but his incredibly expensive squad really should have had what it took to defeat Sevilla, currently the fifth best team in Spain.

The United boss's comments haven't done his reputation many great favours as people begin to wonder if things are about to unravel at the club or whether it's a desperate attempt from Mourinho to distract from his side's poor showing.

Paul Merson, however, has another, much wilder theory about what's happening.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the former Arsenal midfielder speculates that Mourinho might actually be close to an exit.

“It seems to me that he’s trying to make it a bit unrestful at the moment,” Merson said. “You look from a distance at the PSG job, you look at that now, he’s probably looked at the Man City one and he’s probably sitting there thinking ‘I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew here and Man City are a million miles above us and I need to sort of find a way of getting out of here’."

Merson firmly believes that the fans won't put up with Mourinho's antics and that it could signal the end of his time there.

“You don’t talk like he’s talking at the moment," he said. “You don’t start knocking Manchester United for what they’ve done in the last so many years.

“Them supporters surely aren’t sitting there going ‘he’s right here’. Surely they’re not saying that.

“And then he’s saying to the players they need to grow up. Everything’s about everybody else but not about him at the moment.

“I think this will end soon, I think it will end soon."

It's certainly a crazy theory - but it just about makes some sense.