Manchester United have been described as hopeful of being able to confirm their permanent manager by the end of April ‘at the latest’.
United were initially led by Michael Carrick after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked in November, before Ralf Rangnick was given the job on an interim basis for the rest of the season.
There had been regular speculation over whether Rangnick will be appointed on a permanent basis, but it remains the club’s intention for him to step aside in the summer and move into a two-year consultancy role as originally planned.
Mauricio Pochettino has long been United’s favoured target – he has come under increasing pressure at current club Paris Saint-Germain in recent days following their collapse in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
Erik ten Hag has also been increasingly linked with the job, while even Thomas Tuchel has been mentioned in recent days owing to the sudden crisis at Chelsea.
“We are now conducting a thorough process for the appointment of a new permanent manager who will take charge this summer, with the objective to get us back to challenging for those domestic and European titles,” football director John Murtough said earlier this month.
The Daily Mail has now reported that United are hopeful of being in a position to confirm who that new boss will be by the end of next month. Whether or not they will make it public at that time is unclear, especially if the new hire is at another club and will stay there until the end of the season.
Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers initially had more support within the United hierarchy, although Pochettino has been the preferred choice of the Glazer family and Sir Alex Ferguson. The latter has cultivated a personal relationship with the Argentine dating back to 2016 when they met for dinner.
United soon sharpened their focus and settled on Pochettino and Ten Hag as the primary targets, but Murtough is keen to look at all options before making a final decision.
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Source : 90min