Manchester United may be about to change managers, and Mauricio Pochettino appears to be the name at the top of the list. According to ESPN, the club is ready to part ways with Michael Carrick, and the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team is the favored candidate to replace him at Old Trafford.
The reason is the team’s worst start in the Premier League. United have won only once in their first 10 league matches and sit one point above the bottom of the table, in the relegation zone, a position that has put the club’s executives under pressure.
Carrick, 45, signed a two-year contract in the summer after guiding the club to Champions League qualification as interim manager, but he has won only one of the four games since the club gave him a reprieve last month.
Pochettino, 54, would not come cheap. He extended his contract with the U.S. Soccer Federation until 2030 in August, after leading the United States to the round of 16 at the World Cup, and he has an escape clause of $10 million that United would have to pay.
The former Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach has also interviewed for the United job on three previous occasions and is regarded as having the Premier League experience and personality needed to lift the club out of danger.
However, nothing is official yet. According to reports, the club’s chief executive, Omar Berrada, and director of football, Jason Wilcox, have recommended Carrick’s dismissal, and the final decision is expected at a meeting in Monaco on Wednesday with minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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Other names on the list
Pochettino is not the only name in the conversation. Eddie Howe is another candidate admired by United’s executives, and since he left Newcastle in the summer, he is available. Julian Nagelsmann also appears among the coaches currently without a job, after he left the German national team following the World Cup.
The list does not end there. Other reports point to Kieran McKenna, who was interviewed for the job in 2024, as an option for Old Trafford, while Antonio Conte and Unai Emery have also been linked with the job in recent months.
For now, though, Pochettino appears to have a slight edge over the rest of the candidates. Everything will depend on what happens in Monaco on Wednesday, when United’s decision-makers are expected to decide on Carrick’s future and begin to define who will take charge.
