Michael Carrick is expected to lose his job as Manchester United head coach this week, and the club has opened talks with USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino about replacing him.
Carrick’s future will be decided at a meeting in Monaco on Wednesday, attended by chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Berrada and Wilcox flew to Monaco for one of their regular, planned meetings to discuss strategy around the club, but the main item on this occasion is Carrick’s future and what should happen next. It is expected that Berrada and Wilcox will recommend that the head coach goes. Carrick was pictured arriving at the club’s Carrington training base on Wednesday.
Discussions for Pochettino, the former Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea boss, to return to the Premier League are under way. United have approached the former Argentina defender about their managerial position on three previous occasions: when Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2018, in 2022 before the club appointed Erik ten Hag, and again when the Dutchman was sacked in 2024.
Pochettino’s situation
Pochettino renewed his contract with the USA in August, and the team has a two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarter-final against Haiti over the next week. The 54-year-old has a $10m (£7.5m) release clause.
His first Premier League job came at Southampton from January 2013, before a five-year stint at Tottenham from 2014 that included a Champions League final appearance. He then managed Paris St-Germain from January 2021 to July 2022 and spent the 2023-24 season in charge of Chelsea. He moved into international football by taking the USA job in September 2024, and he led the co-hosts to the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
United’s struggles
United are 18th in the Premier League, inside the relegation zone, after winning just one of their first 10 games and none since August. It is the club’s lowest position at this stage of a top-flight season since 1986-87, when they were 20th.