Manchester United legend and former coach Ryan Giggs has revealed the reason for his exit from Old Trafford last summer, with the Welshman stating that current manager José Mourinho made "no offer" to have him as his assistant manager at the Red Devils.

Couldn't go on at the club in any other capacity

Many will consider Giggs as the best player to pull on the United shirt, with the 43-year-old amassing a staggering 963 appearances across 24 seasons.

The 2013/14 season did see him take a step back into the dugout with Giggs taking over the managerial role after the departure of David Moyes, before becoming assistant manager to Louis van Gaal during his two seasons at the Theatre of Dreams.

Mourinho was brought in last summer in place of the Dutchman with the coach preferring long-time assistant Rui Faria to Giggs, the former winger who has been linked with the likes of Swansea City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland vacancies stated that the snub was the reason for his exit but still insisted that it was decision to move on.

"There was no offer from Jose Mourinho. No offer," Giggs told Manchester Evening News. "It was my choice to go."

"As soon as Louis was going I had made my decision to go," the Welshman admitted. "I had done two years and I wanted to do three years under Louis."

"It didn't happen," the 43-year-old conceded. "That was my plan, to do my three years and see what happened after that."

"Unfortunately, that was cut short. It happens," Giggs added. "That's football. But I didn't really feel I could go on at the club in any other capacity apart from manager."

Only brought in to keep up with Pep

Many will say that it was a successful first season at the club for Mourinho, with the Red Devils securing three trophies, their first Europa League title and a place in next season's Champions League group stages.

It also can be said that it certainly wasn't an easy road for the Portuguese coach and his side, with a host of injuries really effecting their end of season performances despite the success.

Manchester was spoilt with managerial talent last summer with the arrival of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and pundit Graeme Souness believes that was the reason why Mourinho was brought in initially.

"I didn’t think Mourinho was right for United and I said that from day one," he said. “Because Guardiola was coming in at Manchester City."

"The people making decisions at Old Trafford felt compelled to go and get a big name manager and they ended up with Jose," the Scotsman stated. “Mourinho is used to winning league titles and finishing where he did last season in the Premier League will not be acceptable, but it won’t be easy to put it right.”

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.