United States manager Mauricio Pochettino has become heavily attached to Premier League side Manchester United ahead of Michael Carrick potentially being sacked by the Red Devils.

Mauricio Pochettino led the United States to the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup before Belgium thrashed the co-hosts 4-1 at the Lumen Field in Seattle.

Laurie Whitwell has spotted a pattern in how much Mauricio Pochettino is coming up in conversations about Man Utd

The Athletic on Monday reported that Mauricio Pochettino is considered one of the leading candidates to potentially replace Michael Carrick at Old Trafford. According to BBC Sport, the Premier League club are believed to be ready to axe Carrick from the United manager role during the November international break.

Carrick has been hanging on to his tenure at Old Trafford after Man Utd’s 4-4 comeback draw against Aston Villa in the Premier League clash on Sunday evening. Despite United’s performance against Aston Villa ahead of the November break, the Red Devils languish in 18th place in the Premier League table after 10 matches under United legend Carrick.

Speaking on The Athletic’s Talk of The Devils podcast, Laurie Whitwell has said that he has been hearing more about Pochettino’s name after speaking with people.

“I’d had a message about this perhaps last week where the name Mauricio Pochettino was mentioned, and he hadn’t really featured in my thoughts before that point,” he said.

“Well, not my thoughts; that’s not really what matters, but in terms of the information that I was being told about at that stage anyway.

“So, yeah, Pochettino’s name emerged, and then today, certainly more traction, I think, from people that I’ve been speaking to are sort of mentioning his name.”

Pochettino’s USA side will be in action during the November break and will face Haiti in a two-leg quarter-final encounter in the Concacaf Nations League. Whitwell suggested that it would be ‘surprising’ if the former Tottenham and Chelsea boss left the United States national team before the upcoming clashes against Haiti.

“Speaking to people, they would perhaps be surprised if Pochettino left the USA right now, before these two games,” he added.

“I believe there’s a clause that would allow that, but again, it’s money involved. So, United have been suggesting that finances are tight, but could they find the money in this scenario?”

Man Utd have won once in the Premier League under Carrick in the 2026-27 campaign and the Red Devils have picked up five draws and suffered four defeats. United are one point behind 17th-place Coventry City ahead of the Red Devils’ Premier League visit to Anfield to face Liverpool on 22nd November.