BRENDAN RODGERS moved a step closer to the Manchester United job by going house-hunting in Cheshire.
Leicester’s boss — United’s No 1 choice to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — is looking for a new family home in football’s jet-set areas of Wilmslow and Alderley Edge.
The news will intensify speculation that ex-Liverpool chief Rodgers will take over at Old Trafford before Christmas.
However, United’s top brass have decided Rodgers will be given NO money to spend in the January transfer window.
United’s board believes the squad is far better than their sixth place in the Prem suggests — and throwing more money at it is not the answer.
Solskjaer brought in another three big names last summer, in Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane, and has spent over £400million in his three years as boss.
But United are still no nearer to a title challenge, are far from certain to make the knockout stages of the Champions League and have won just four of their last 12 games.
There are claims senior players have lost faith in Solskjaer.
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And the 5-0 Liverpool humiliation plus the pitiful 2-0 home derby loss to City before the international break was the final straw.
An emergency board meeting discussed replacements and pinpointed Rodgers as the man they wanted next — ASAP.
Sources close to the Northern Irishman, 48, reveal he and his wife — from Liverpool — are searching for a new Cheshire base as a priority.
Ex-Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, now at Spurs, and former Real Madrid chief Zinedine Zidane were on the list but both wanted a war chest of around £250m over the next two windows.
Solskjaer jetted off to Norway on holiday at the start of the international break — a call which surprised some at the club given the current crisis.
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