Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Manchester United are looking for a new manager after Erik ten Hag was sacked following a poor start to the season.
United are 14th in the Premier League after nine games, and lie 21st in the Europa League table having failed to win any of their opening three fixtures.
The defeat by West Ham United on the weekend was ironically one of the team’s better performances under Ten Hag this season, but it proved to be the final straw for the Ineos ownership as a string of missed chances resulted in a 2-1 loss.
Here we take a look at the early frontrunners to replace him.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
The Dutchman was brought to the club by Erik ten Hag in the summer as an assistant coach, and now finds himself thrust into the limelight as the interim manager after Ten Hag’s sacking. An interim role can often be a chance to audition for the permanent job, but Van Nistelrooy will need to impress quickly, given his lack of experience in senior positions.
Since retiring as a player in 2012 after a glorious career plundering goals for PSV, United, and Real Madrid, the Dutchman has spent most of his coaching career in charge of youth teams at PSV. He was handed the reins to the first team in March 2022, and won the Dutch Cup in his first full season, but departed after a fallout with the club’s hierarchy.
The relatively untested 48-year-old would be a bold appointment, but he is a popular figure at Old Trafford and a quick upturn in results could see fans get behind his candidacy amid a shortage of elite options.
Ruben Amorim
Amorim is one of the most highly regarded young coaches in European football and has been linked with a number of managerial posts in recent months, from Barcelona to Chelsea.
The midfielder enjoyed a successful playing career with Belenenses and Benfica, winning three league titles with the Portuguese giants, but his career was cut short by a knee injury and he retired at 32.
Amorim caught the attention with success in the Portuguese League Cup in his second job, in charge of Braga, and was poached by Sporting CP in 2020. He delivered the title to end the club’s 19-year wait, and repeated the feat last season. Sporting are currently top of the league once more and well placed to defend their crown. They lie eighth in the Champions League table with two wins and a draw.
Amorim would be something of a coup but he is an unknown quantity, having spent almost his entire playing and coaching career in Portugal to date. He is also reluctant to leave Sporting mid-season, as revealed by The Independent on Monday, and it is thought United would need to pay around €20m to break his contract.
Gareth Southgate
The former England manager is still out of work after leaving the national team following defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final, and is known to be admired by United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his director of sport at Ineos, Sir Dave Brailsford.
Southgate’s club coaching experience is limited, having taken charge of Middlesbrough for three years and left 15 years ago, so Southgate is reliant on his work with England to convince United’s Ineos owners he has what it takes to lead a Premier League giant.
He was hugely popular with the England players and came within a penalty shout of delivering men’s major silverware for the first time since 1966. He also showed an adeptness at handling media scrutiny and difficult topics, from the infamous bust-up between Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez, to the racist abuse of his players, to relentless criticism of his own shortcomings.
But those shortcomings became so magnified that his role effectively became untenable. In particular, Southgate was condemned for a hesitation to make substitutions and in-game tactical changes, as well as a broadly pragmatic approach that lacked adventure.
Xavi Hernandez
The former Barcelona manager has been linked with a move to Old Trafford in recent days, but he is currently on a year’s sabbatical and has stated his preference to take time out of the game.
Xavi’s stock shot up after leading Barca to the Liga in 2022/23 – their first title for four years – but he was sacked at the end of last season following a major downturn in results.
Thomas Frank
The Danish manager has built a reputation as an intelligent, pragmatic coach after guiding Brentford to the Premier League and keeping them there. They are currently ninth in the table, five places and four points above United.
Speaking recently on the Sports Agents podcast, Frank said: “I am probably at one of the best clubs in the world. End of discussion. In terms of alignment, leadership, culture, everything. Why should I ever leave this place?
“Things can happen and you can want new inspiration, maybe you find another inspiration at your club and you stay. For sure, if I ever got the offer to go to a big club and I decided to go there, it would probably not make my life better. I think we all know that.
“Maybe it is a challenge you need to try. It is not something I am thinking about.”
Michael Carrick
Much like his playing days, the former Manchester United midfielder has been quietly impressing as the manager of Middlesbrough.
Carrick took over in October 2022 and quickly instilled a slick, attractive passing style which brought immediate results. Boro finished fourth in his first season, before losing in the play-off semi-finals to Coventry City. They finished just outside the play-offs in eighth last season and are currently ninth in the table after 12 games played.
Carrick is a popular figure at Old Trafford and has experience as a United coach under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. When Solskjaer was sacked, Carrick took interim charge for three games and oversaw two wins and a draw.
Kieran McKenna
The Northern Irishman is highly thought of at United, having impressed as Under-18s manager during a two-year spell. He later became assistant to Jose Mourinho, and then a coach under Solskjaer.
McKenna led Ipswich to promotion from the Championship last season playing an attacking brand of football with an emphasis on pressing and hard running. But the transition to the Premier League has proved predictably tough so far, with no wins from nine games.
The 38-year-old is considered one of the most promising young British coaches around, and held discussions with the Ineos hierarchy in the summer before they decided to extend Ten Hag’s contract.
