United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino is set to be appointed as the new manager of Manchester United after the struggling English giants sacked Michael Carrick on Thursday.
Pochettino is widely expected to leave his role with the USA following their two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final on Saturday and Tuesday in a move that will see United trigger a release clause worth some US$10 million to secure the Argentine coach's services.
The former Tottenham Hotspur coach, who signed a contract extension to remain with the United States through to the 2030 World Cup just three months ago, is due to hold a pre-match press conference on Friday.
Former United captain Carrick led the team to an impressive third-place finish in the Premier League last season, but they have taken just eight points from 10 games in the current campaign and are in the relegation zone.
The club confirmed in a statement Thursday that it had parted ways with the 45-year-old, following mounting speculation he would be axed during the international break.
"After a disappointing start to the season, the club has come to the extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions," United said. "Michael is, and always will be, a Manchester United legend. Just as he did as a player, he has conducted himself with the highest standards of dedication and professionalism throughout his time back with the club."
Carrick impressed after taking over as interim boss following Ruben Amorim's acrimonious exit in January, leading United to Champions League qualification.
He was rewarded with a two-year permanent deal but, hampered by the club's underwhelming recruitment in the summer transfer window, his side have endured a steep decline this season.
Carrick has struggled to maintain discipline, dropping captain Bruno Fernandes after he criticised his manager's tactics following a 4-1 thrashing at Champions League debutants Como.
Argentine defender Lisandro Martínez also spoke out against the club's hierarchy over their lack of top-quality signings.
Carrick's final game in charge was a chaotic 4-4 draw against Aston Villa on Sunday, after which he stressed he would not walk away despite a paltry record of three wins from 15 games in all competitions this season.
It is believed Carrick's future was decided on Wednesday during a meeting in Monaco involving co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox.
'Disgusting'
Pochettino has extensive experience of the Premier League following spells in charge of Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea, and he also coached Paris Saint-Germain.
Carrick, who won multiple trophies as a midfielder in the club's golden era under Alex Ferguson, is the seventh permanent manager to be dismissed by the club since the Scot retired in 2013.
Former United captain Gary Neville, who played alongside Carrick, said his old team-mate had been treated appallingly.
"It's just quite simply disgusting," Neville told Sky Sports. "That falls well below the standard of what you would expect in any other business. In any other industry it would be constructive dismissal and you'd be getting sued."
The Manchester United Supporters' Trust said Carrick's departure marked "another depressing moment," pinning the blame on majority owners the Glazer family and minority shareholder Ratcliffe, with the club yet to win a Premier League title since the end of the Ferguson era.
"The Glazers' debt-funded takeover continues to burden the club," MUST said in a statement. "When [Ratcliffe's] INEOS came in they promised sporting excellence, but yet with repeated changes in football leadership we have seen anything but."
United's next game is against fierce rivals Liverpool at Anfield on November 22.
Challenge
With a reputation for developing youth and inspiring players and fans to buy into his brand of high-intensity football, Pochettino appears to be a good fit on the surface for United.
The Argentine reportedly reached a verbal agreement Wednesday to replace Carrick.
United, who have cycled through 11 managers (including caretakers) and failed to win a single league title since Alex Ferguson's 2013 retirement, are desperately in need of a leader who can bring identity, stability and belief to an expensive-but-fragmented squad and their disillusioned fans.
The appeal of an inspirational coach who had his Southampton squad walk barefoot across hot coals, took Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League final, and inspired a nation to believe the US could beat anyone at last summer's World Cup on home soil, is not hard to spot.
Pochettino spoke often before the World Cup of his desire to transform "expectation into energy" and "create amazing energy between the fans and us."
Though the team's last-16 exit was not an unmitigated success, the US demolished Paraguay 4-1 in one of the tournament's best attacking displays and won its first knockout game since 2002.
"When you are free, you perform. When you feel happy, you perform.... Pressure is a thing that, if you don't deal perfectly with it, can be heavy," Pochettino told reporters.
There has been no shortage of pressure at United in the past decade.
A club that dominated English football through much of the 1990s and 2000s has bounced between every type of manager, playing style and tactical formation imaginable.
Pochettino favours a 4-2-3-1, with emphasis on quick-passing breaks from the back and high pressing out of possession.
Unusually for a big-club manager, Pochettino has often prioritised young talent, trusting that up-and-coming stars can be blooded in the first team.
"If a player deserves to play, if they are 17, 18, 19 or 20, it's the same for us," Pochettino told The Guardian in 2015, the year future Ballon d'Or-winner Harry Kane truly broke out as a major star at Tottenham. "If they deserve to play and show character and maturity to be given the responsibility. But for that, you need to build the player."
'Better times'
Pochettino's likely appointment is not without risk. His brief tenures at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea were less successful.
He reportedly grew disillusioned with the giant egos of a star-studded PSG team that included Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, and struggled with the highly hands-on approach of Chelsea's billionaire owners.
Both could be factors again in Manchester.
And then there is the stick most frequently used to beat Pochettino – his lack of silverware.
Pochettino has lost five finals, including the Champions League with Tottenham, and his only league title came with PSG.
And those glory years with Spurs – where he was beloved by players and fans alike, despite never quite getting the team across the line – are almost a decade in the past.
"Pochettino himself is like a walking vision of better times and diminished powers," wrote The Guardian's football writer Barney Ronay.
In hiring a 54-year-old Pochettino, United would be gambling that both club and manager can successfully roll back the clock.
– TIMES/AFP
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