Back in 2016, Sir Alex Ferguson wanted Mauricio Pochettino to replace Louis van Gaal as Manchester United manager.

As reported by Sky Sports on May 11, 2026, Sir Alex, then an ambassador for Man Utd, met Pochettino and his then-Tottenham Hotspur assistant manager Jesus Perez, for lunch in London.

There were doubts about the future of Van Gaal as Man Utd manager at the time.

In the end, Man Utd sacked Van Gaal and replaced him with Jose Mourinho.

Pochettino stayed at Tottenham and went on to be a huge success at the North London club.

Mauricio Pochettino interested in Man Utd job

The former Chelsea manager is in charge of the USA national team at the moment.

Pochettino took over as the USMNT manager in September 2024 and signed a new contract in August 2026 to stay in charge until the end of the 2030 World Cup.

TalkSPORT, though, has now claimed that the Argentine would ‘be interested’ in replacing Carrick as the Man Utd manager.

Carrick’s future at Man Utd is far from certain, with the Red Devils in the Premier League bottom three after 10 rounds of matches.

Michael Carrick wants to stay as Man Utd manager

Man Utd have not sacked Carrick yet, but the situation could change during the international break.

Carrick, though, has made it clear that he will not resign as Man Utd manager anytime soon.

After the 4-4 draw between Man Utd and Aston Villa at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday, Sky Sports journalist Patrick Davison asked Carrick: “What do you expect to happen over the next few weeks? If you thought walking away was the best thing, you’d probably do it.”

Carrick immediately made it clear that he is not going to resign.

The Man Utd boss responded: “It’s not going to happen, no.”

Former Man Utd chief scout Mick Brown has given his take on whether the Red Devils’ co-owners, INEOS, could sack Carrick.

Brown told Football Insider: “From what I hear, Man United are still very reluctant to sack Michael Carrick.

“Results haven’t been good enough, they know that, and things will have to improve, but there have been positive signs so it’s not a case where you feel he has to be sacked.

“I think a big part of the decision for Man United as well is, it’s not cheap to keep sacking all of these managers and paying their contracts off.

“We saw it with the last couple of managers, those were big payments and money they feel they shouldn’t have had to spend, and it’s the same with Michael Carrick.

“They want to avoid spending money for the sake of it, and I’m led to believe that is a big part of the reason they’re reluctant to sack him.”