Are Manchester United and Mauricio Pochettino about to stop flirting and finally f***?

If the Argentinian does replace Michael Carrick, it would satisfy an urge both parties have been resisting for at least a decade now.

Though we’ve lost count precisely how many times Pochettino has been linked with the United job, this, we think, might be the fifth occasion. And perhaps the worst timing of them all.

United really sought to woo Pochettino in 2016, when the then-Tottenham Hotspur manager was two years into his White Hart Lane reign. Sir Alex Ferguson had dinner with Pochettino, let him pay the bill – then appointed Jose Mourinho instead.

Pochettino was spoken of as United’s next boss when Mourinho was axed in 2018. And when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked, then again before Erik ten Hag was appointed.

In hindsight, United should have put out then, at the end of Pochettino’s PSG tenure in 2022. Post-Mourinho might have been special too. Maybe it still could be.

But now, if he has been paying attention, Pochettino must be warier than ever. And it is hard to shake the feeling too that United are compromising – again.

This may be the one time that they least need the ex-Spurs, PSG and Chelsea’s particular skillset. In the short term at least.

If United really cared about what was good for them, they would appoint Antonio Conte – and stand back.

That, though, is never likely to happen while the club’s leadership dodges the kind of scrutiny and demands that Conte would subject them to.

Appointing Pochettino feels like a compromise between the low-key Eddie Howe – Jason Wilcox’s preferred candidate, despite Dan Ashworth losing the job Wilcox now holds having lobbied for the same manager – and Conte’s fire and fury.

PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE DURING POCHETTINO’S SPURS TENURE

Whoever United appoint, whatever their style, the new manager’s first priority will be to tighten up the third-worst defence in the Premier League. Becoming harder to beat is always the first task for any manager dropped into a relegation battle.

Making a team harder to beat, though, isn’t Pochettino’s thing. Especially when that team seems allergic to running. This United cannot possibly press how Pochettino would want in the shape they are currently in; Ralf Rangnick tried it with a previous iteration and gave up after 45 minutes.

Pochettino’s approach, on the front foot in and out of possession, is perfect for the team United think they are – but not the one they have become with the squad Wilcox has assembled. Right club, wrong time again?

The calculation for Pochettino must be how bad things might get before he really gets the opportunity to stamp his mark on a United team.

And, crucially, will that ever happen at United in their current guise, under this ownership?

Even if Pochettino can drag the Red Devils out of a relegation battle, the likelihood that he will be given the authority or resources to truly mould a team in his image is minimal. Especially when Wilcox and his cronies are presenting him with the players easiest to recruit with the dwindling funds to hand while the lecherous owners use the club as their family ATM.

Pochettino and Manchester United could have been great together. Perhaps they still might be, and at the very least, we are all curious to see how compatible they really are.

But this United would give anyone the ick. Pochettino might be wise to leave it all in the past.