Who Will be Machester United's Next Manager?

The Manchester United Football Club is one of the most successful football clubs in the world but has gone on one of the longest trophy droughts now as it has been 5 years since they have won a trophy.

Since then they have had two managers after Jose Mourinho was fired in December 2018. Club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær took over as caretaker manager for the rest of the season. After winning 14 of 19 matches, he was signed to a three-year deal to become the permanent manager. 

Solskjær was able to bring United to a second-place finish in the Europa League in the 2020-2021 season and a second-place finish in the Premier League. This was an improvement over the past years, but still not good enough for the club's high standards. After United struggled to keep up with its competitors during the first half of the 2021-2022 season, the board decided to move on from Solskjær and appoint Ralf Rangnick. He was a former RB Leipzig coach and current Manager of Sports and development to Lokomotiv Moscow. Rangnick would take over as interim head coach. 

Rangnick was given a contract until the end of the season as the head coach, and then to move on to a consultancy role for the club for two years. 

Although there has yet to be a decision made or a formal press release on whether or not Rangnick will move onto the consultancy role or stay on as a coach, many expect Manchester United to hire a new coach.

To return to becoming a global footballing superpower, Manchester United needs a manager that will instill a philosophy and system like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have done with Manchester City and Liverpool respectively. 

According to reports, United have narrowed their coaching search down to three: Mauricio Pochettino of Paris Saint-Germain, Erik Ten Hag of Ajax, and Luis Enrique the current coach of the Spain National Team.

Mauricio Pochettino

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Pochettino is best known for taking the Premier League side Tottenham to their first UEFA Champions League final. He also made his name at Premier League Southampton, by playing an exciting brand of football (soccer) and his willingness to make the right transfers while injecting youth into the squad. 

Pochettino’s willingness to play younger players will intrigue the Manchester United board because having players brought into the academy is in the club's DNA. He will also bring experience in managing big players after having experience managing both PSG and Tottenham, where he had players such as Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, and Heung Min Son in the locker room. This will be seen as a big plus for Pochettino by United as he will have to manage many big players including Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Some worries about Pochettino are that he has never had success in European club tournaments, and has even ended PSG’s winning streak in the French league. This was not a good time in his career. Although Pochettino’s tactics may not be as inept as the other two managers, his man managing abilities and style to instill his tactics and system in the squad may intrigue Manchester United into pulling the trigger for him.

Erik Ten Hag

Photo credit: PlanetFootball.com

Ten Hag is the current head coach of Ajax, a team that plays in the Netherlands. His biggest accomplishment was taking Ajax to the semi-finals of the UEFA champions league in 2019. Hag has also had immense success with Ajax in the Eredivisie and the Dutch first division. After reaching the semis in 2019, Ten Hag was faced with losing three of his best players and a limited transfer budget. He was able to show his good transfer philosophy by bringing in young and cheap replacements for his star players and looking to the youth. This made his squad, like Ajax, host one of the best academy systems in the world. 

Some more positive to hiring Hag is his willingness to create a system in the club based on his ideologies of the game, which is important in building a successful team these days as Guardiola and Klopp have. Ten Hag may not have the experience of fighting in a top 5 league, but many fans and some of the board think he has the tools and philosophy to bring Manchester United back to the top.

Luis Enrique

Photo Credit: Photo-Italia.net

Enrique is the most successful of all the three managers. He made his name at Barcelona, where he had a rough beginning but then went on to win 42 out of his first 50 games. He also won the treble in 2015, meaning that Barcelona won their domestic league, domestic tournament, and continental club tournament. However, unlike the other two candidates, it is unlikely that Enrique who currently manages the Spanish national team will leave that post in a world cup year. If Manchester United thinks he is their man they might have to wait until after the 2022 World Cup for him.

In my opinion, Manchester United has a clear option if they want to obtain the levels that Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool are at, Ten Hag. Ten Hag’s style of play fits Manchester United's aggressive attacking and high-tempo play. His philosophies in his tactics and the way he believes a football club should be run is another trait Manchester United would love. Along with Rangnick, and maybe even Edwin Van Der Sar, current Ajax CEO and Manchester United legend would be able to build a football club and system that will help Manchester United become a force to be reckoned with again