Kaveh Solhekol has questioned Manchester United’s pursuit of Mauricio Pochettino, arguing that the club could find stronger options. He believes Pochettino would not be the first choice for any of the biggest clubs in Europe, and he questions how the club has handled the process, the decision-making behind it, and the roles of the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe.
Pochettino would not be up for one of the top jobs
Solhekol acknowledged Pochettino’s quality but questioned his standing in the managerial market. “I think he’s a very good manager, but would he be in the frame to get the Liverpool job if that was available? Would he be in the frame to get the Arsenal job if that was available? Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, would they be looking at Mauricio Pochettino?”
He said a short-term appointment could work. “The players will definitely respond to having somebody like Pochettino in charge and having him calling the shots. But long term, I hope Mauricio knows what he’s letting himself in for if he does become the next United manager.”
Solhekol pointed to managers with stronger records in English football. “Eddie Howe’s got a better CV. Howe’s won a domestic trophy in English football, with Newcastle United. Antonio Conte has won the title in his first season at Chelsea. So there are people out there who have a better track record than Pochettino.”
He reviewed Pochettino’s career in detail. He noted that Pochettino did a good job at Southampton, where they finished eighth, and at Spurs, where they came close to the title and reached the Champions League final. However, he won nothing in five seasons at Spurs. At Paris Saint-Germain, Solhekol said, Pochettino had Neymar, Mbappe and Messi, and the club finished second before winning the title the following season. Pochettino was still sacked. At Chelsea he lasted one season and they finished sixth. Solhekol said the USA had given him a good job, but added that the side had been “comprehensively outplayed by Belgium in the Round of 16” at the World Cup.
“So if you look at his CV, you would say Mauricio Pochettino is a very, very good manager. But I think under normal circumstances, he would not now be getting one of the top jobs at the other biggest clubs in the world.”
They could have had him for nothing in the summer
Solhekol questioned the financial logic of the move. He said that since Sir Alex Ferguson left, United would have spent more than £100m hiring and firing managers if they dismissed Carrick and appointed Pochettino. Reports suggested United would need to pay $10m to secure Pochettino. “Couldn’t they have had him for nothing in the summer? In July, his contract with the USA ran out. He was available then.”
He added that United had already appointed Michael Carrick by that point and questioned whether the club had known Pochettino would become available. “I’m just intrigued to know who at Manchester United is really pushing for Pochettino to get the job.”
Why are you letting Carrick suffer in public?
Solhekol said the handling of Carrick reflected poorly on the club. “I don’t think this looks good for Manchester United at all. Most people in football will think this is a pretty shameful way to treat Michael Carrick, an incredible player for the club. Somebody who is Manchester United through and through.”
He questioned the timing of a meeting in Monaco attended by the chief executive and director of football. “What’s the point of a chief executive and director of football flying to Monaco to rubber-stamp the sacking of Carrick when it is an open secret in football now that Carrick is leaving and he is going to be replaced by Pochettino? I know this was a pre-arranged meeting about more than just Carrick, but it’s obvious this makes United look bad.”
Who’s running the club? Who’s making these decisions?
Solhekol said the club’s structure was difficult to read. “There’s a chief executive (Omar Berrada), there’s a director of football (Jason Wilcox). A lot of United fans don’t want them to be at the club. They think the chief executive doesn’t have enough experience as a chief executive, no experience, before he got the Manchester United job. They think the director of football doesn’t have enough experience to be the director of football at a club as big as Manchester United.”
He noted that INEOS and Jim Ratcliffe, who own around 30 per cent of the club, are in charge of football operations, but that the Glazer family must still sign off on decisions. “Will it be a unanimous decision to part ways with Carrick if they finally do decide that he is going to be sacked? Will it be a unanimous decision that they get Mauricio Pochettino? Is it the Glazer family? Is it Ratcliffe and Ineos? Is it Berrada and Wilcox? Do the Glazers see Mauricio Pochettino as the man to turn around United’s fortunes?”
Ratcliffe hasn’t been very successful at sorting out the structure
Solhekol argued that the Glazers still hold the greater influence. “Despite the fact that Jim Ratcliffe is in charge of football operations, the Glazer family own more shares than he does. So ultimately, if the club belongs to anybody, it still belongs to the Glazer family. And it’s only natural that they would want a say in who is going to be the manager.”
He suggested the Glazers were watching Ratcliffe’s record closely. “They’re seeing somebody who they sold 30 per cent of the club to, who basically said I want to take control of football operations. I can do a better job than the Glazers. They are watching him do a worse job than they were doing on the pitch. Because if they do fire Carrick and appoint Mauricio Pochettino, Pochettino will be the fourth manager they have had in three seasons. And that is under Jim Ratcliffe.”
Solhekol recalled that Ratcliffe had identified excessive hiring and firing as a major problem at the club. “He said, one of the big problems at United has been that we’ve been hiring and firing too many managers. And it’s not the manager’s fault. It is something to do with the structure at the club. And that is something that he was going to sort out. Obviously, looking from the outside in, he hasn’t done that so far.”