Benni McCarthy says he has been told by Jose Mourinho he could become a top coach at a time when there is a sudden flurry of vacancies in the South African game.

The 38-year-old McCarthy has been assistant coach at St Truiden in Belgium since September to Johannesburg-raised Chris O'Loughlin, the Irishman who came through the ranks at Orlando Pirates.

The unfashionable club lie in eighth place in the standings as they prepare to take on Andile Jali's club Oostende away from home on Saturday.

McCarthy says his ultimate ambition is to coach "my favourite club Manchester United" but he could start on his own in his home country where at least three top-flight clubs are currently without a coach.

"When I stopped playing I asked the advice of many of my former coaches, including Jose Mourinho, who I still keep in contact with throu gh telephone calls and SMSes.

"I asked them if coaching was something I would be able to do well. They said: 'Benni, you can read the game, you understand players, you can be a top trainer'. That's when I knew definitely that this is what I was going to do.

"If Jose says something like that you have to heed his advice," said McCarthy in a interview with Belgian weekly Sport Magazine.

"Sam Allardyce, my old coach at Blackburn, said I'd have to change my character. On the field I was a monster but off it I was always laughing and joking, I never complained. Just a good boy. Maybe too nice, too soft for a coach, Sam told me. But I can be tough."

McCarthy was in Mourinho's first Uefa Champions League-winning team with Porto in 2004.

The former Bafana Bafana marksman said he now uses much of the Mourinho's methods in his own preparation with players in Belgium.

"Before every match Mourinho used to give each player a DVD. Just five minutes. It had two aspects of the player who you would be up against and then three of your own 'best of' moments ... Just by watching it before a game I'd grow two metres taller."