Things have not gone well thus far for Manchester United, who are 1-5-4 through their first 10 Premier League games to start the season. That record is good for 18th place on the table, meaning if the season were to end today, the traditional English soccer blue blood would be relegated.
In short, it’s the club’s worst start in the modern era. Which is why it should come as no surprise that former player turned manager Michael Carrick is on the hot seat at Old Trafford.
The club has called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Monaco where minority owner Jim Ratcliffe is based out of. That meeting is widely expected to confirm that the club will be parting ways with Carrick in favour of current U.S. Men’s National Team coach Mauricio Pochettino.
The club is believed to have reached a verbal deal with the former Chelsea coach, and are awaiting a board decision on Carrick’s future to finalize a contract. According to reports, the club was also considering Julian Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe and Antonio Conte in recent days for the position as well.
Prior to taking on the role with the American side, Pochettino was a finalist for the Manchester position back in 2022 when the team ultimately went with Erik ten Hag to fill their managerial void.
Carrick led United through their training session on Wednesday and has previously told reporters he has no plans of stepping down from his role. As such, if a change is to be made, the club will need to relieve him of his duties if they believe a new voice is needed inside the locker room.
Insiders believe that it’s simply a matter of “when” rather than “if” the Argentinian takes over head coaching duties with the Red Devils. There’s a £7M release clause built into his current deal with the US National squad which shouldn’t be an issue for a club like United. However the Americans have their CONCACAF Nationals League quarter final games against Haiti on deck, with Leg 1 set for Saturday, and Leg 2 on the docket for Tuesday.
As such, Carrick may be a dead man walking at this point, as the US National team may look to block a move until after their games against the Haitian side are wrapped up. That would then give them nearly a month to find a replacement for Pochettino before their December 13th friendly against Jamaica.
Luckily for United, that timeline could theoretically work, as the club is now off until November 22nd when they take on Liverpool in an 11:30am ET matchup.
If the club does pull the trigger, it will mark a triumphant return to the Premier League two years removed from his departure from Chelsea.
Photo: Bryan Berlin. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.