Manchester United have sacked Michael Carrick after the worst start to a Premier League season in their history, and Sky Sports say Mauricio Pochettino has verbally agreed to replace him.
The call was made at a summit in Monaco, where Sir Jim Ratcliffe ratified it on the recommendation of chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox. United are in the relegation zone with one win from ten league games, and Carrick goes less than six months after signing a two-year contract. Assistants Jonny Evans and Jonathan Woodgate are expected to leave too.
Pochettino is the USA boss and has a £7m release clause in his new contract, with talks involving US Soccer expected to speed up. He’s likely to take charge of the Nations League games against Haiti on Saturday and Wednesday, then start at United the following Thursday. The former Tottenham, Chelsea and PSG manager has been considered for the job three times before.
It’s a sharp fall for Carrick. He took over as interim in January after Ruben Amorim was sacked, won 12 of his 17 games, finished third and got United back into the Champions League. He signed a new deal to 2028 on 22 May, but they’ve won just three of 15 since.
It’s been messy off the pitch as well. Captain Bruno Fernandes criticised the coaching staff after the 4-1 Champions League loss to Como, Carrick questioned the squad’s commitment, and Fernandes was then dropped for the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth. Lisandro Martinez was sent off in the 2-0 loss at Chelsea, having already publicly criticised the club’s hierarchy and named Wilcox. Carrick left straight after Sunday’s 4-4 draw with Aston Villa, in which United trailed 2-0 inside four minutes and 4-2 early in the second half.
Gary Neville told NBC that sacking Carrick won’t fix the deeper problems, pointing to recruitment, leadership and alignment from the owners down to the pitch. Changing manager has been “rinse and repeat” for 12 years, he said. United want a permanent successor “as quickly as possible” and are looking for their eighth permanent head coach since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013.
Footiebuzz View
Hard to argue with it on results, but giving him a two-year deal in May and binning him in November tells you the people upstairs don’t have a clue what they’re doing. Pochettino is a big name, yet he’s walking into a dressing room where the captain and Martinez have both had a pop in public. That’s the eighth permanent boss since Fergie, and Neville’s point about recruitment and leadership is the bit that actually matters.