Manchester United chiefs are considering whether to replace Michael Carrick as manager following a dreadful start to the season and Paul Scholes thinks one candidate stands out

Paul Scholes believes that Antonio Conte is "miles ahead" of the other candidates Manchester United are considering to replace Michael Carrick.

Carrick survived crisis talks with the United hierarchy at the club's Carrington training ground on Monday. He is continuing to prepare for United's Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but his position is far from secure.

United have identified Julian Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe and Conte as possible replacements, with all three managers currently available. There is reportedly some disagreement behind the scenes, with director of football Jason Wilcox preferring Howe, while director of recruitment Christopher Vivell favours Nagelsmann.

Ex-Chelsea and Tottenham boss Conte is interested in the position, but would demand his own backroom staff and control over transfers. The Italian also has a fearsome reputation - something that Scholes believes would be worth it.

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Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football, the United legend said: "You’d have to pick a manager who you think will get us back to being a competitive team for the Premier League. Out of them three, Antonio Conte’s the man, but he comes with a big f***ing massive warning.

"He’s made noises that he wants to come and I’m pretty sure the club would have spoke to all three of them. I can’t understand why he’d want this job because I don’t think the team’s good enough for him, personally."

United also have admiration for Aston Villa boss Unai Emery and Brighton's Fabian Hurzeler, but there is little chance they could tempt them to leave their clubs to take over United, who sit 16th in the Premier League.

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"Is the answer staring us right in the face in Unai Emery?" Scholes added. "He’s won the Europa League with Aston Villa, do you know what an achievement that is? He gets a new team every single year because they have to sell their best players. and he keeps producing, keeps producing.

"Is everyone put off by his Arsenal and PSG days? Probably, because it’s a big club. But it might be staring us in the face. He’d have to take United over Villa, I think he would.

"I think Conte’s the best one around. When I’m talking best in class and you talk them four, I think Antonio Conte’s miles ahead of all of them. You think Juventus, he went to Napoli and goes and wins the league with them."

Former United winger Ashley Young disagrees with Scholes, having played under Conte. Speaking on The Overlap, Young said: "I’ve worked underneath him at Inter. He’s crazy by the way, crazy. A lot of talk has been about Man United’s running stats. If they’re not going to run and Antonio Conte goes in there, it’s going to be a disaster I think."

He added: "There was a lot that he’d done, the training sessions were a lot of 11 vs 11, at times a little bit boring. Meetings were long. When I say long, I’m talking: If we lost a game, we could go in for the meeting and he’d stop literally everything. And you could be in there for three or four hours. It was like ‘come on now, let’s be serious’.

"I think that’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t last long at places because it’s not just the players he tries to test mentally, but the board as well, and the owners. I think that people get annoyed with him and think ‘it’s time for you to go’."