Ryan Giggs set to leave Manchester United after 29 years following Nottingham Forest job links

Manchester United icon Ryan Giggs will depart Old Trafford and embark upon his first permanent foray into club management with Nottingham Forest, according to the latest reports. The 13-time Premier League winner, who made 963 appearances and lifted 34 trophies during his enormously successful playing career before overseeing four matches as interim boss following the sacking of David Moyes in 2014, had been employed as Louis van Gaal's assistant for the past two seasons, but is unlikely to remain in that role following the appointment of Jose Mourinho.

According to The Mirror, Giggs has agreed to leave United and might be the man to try and revitalise the fortunes of fallen giants Forest, who finished 16th in the Championship last season and have not troubled the top six since 2010/11. The club, placed under a transfer embargo last year after breaching Financial Fair Play regulations (FFP), have struggled for managerial stability under the ownership of Kuwaiti businessman Fawaz Al-Hasawi, and sacked Dougie Freedman after only 13 months in charge in March following a poor run of five defeats in six matches.

First-team coach Paul Williams was subsequently placed in temporary charge but picked up only 10 points before leaving the City Ground when his contract expired. Former Brighton and Sunderland chief Gus Poyet was mentioned in connection with the job before taking over at Real Betis, while Nigel Pearson, Neil Warnock, Martin O'Neill, Oscar Garcia, Michel and Gianfranco Zola are among the plethora of other coaches linked over recent months.

Forest recruited Fiorentina's Pedro Pereira as director of football last week and Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis is said to be in talks to buy an 80% share in the club, who might be targeting a managerial candidate from the continent.

Although Mourinho's backroom team at United is yet to be officially confirmed, it is widely expected that long-time assistant and compatriot Rui Faria – with whom he worked at Porto, Inter and Real Madrid in addition to his two spells in charge at Chelsea – will be appointed as his number two. It had been suggested that Giggs could move into a lesser role in the youth setup and The Times claimed last week that the self-proclaimed "Special One" believes he distanced himself from both Moyes and Van Gaal at important moments and is wary about the prospect of working so closely with a man widely touted to become United manager in the future.