Man Utd Once Weighed Pochettino as Ten Hag's Successor

Manchester United's hierarchy sat down with Mauricio Pochettino two years ago, at a time when the club was seriously weighing up whether Erik ten Hag was the right man to lead the side. The meeting suggests the Argentine was more than a passing thought. He had built a strong reputation at Tottenham and had spells at Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, so his name carried real weight on any shortlist of possible managers.

Ten Hag was eventually dismissed in October 2024 and replaced by Ruben Amorim, so the discussions with Pochettino never turned into an appointment. Even so, the episode shows a club prepared to look well beyond its existing staff once it judged that the project was not working. Any move for a coach of Pochettino's profile would have marked a significant change of direction.

For Pochettino, the story underlines how often his name resurfaces whenever a major Premier League job becomes available. He is known for high-intensity pressing, a willingness to develop young players and an ability to lift struggling squads quickly, although his record at Chelsea was mixed. Being considered by one of England's biggest clubs is a sign of how highly he is still rated.

Stories like this also show how managerial planning often runs alongside public speculation. Clubs routinely sound out candidates well before any decision is made, and many of those conversations never become public knowledge. It is best to read accounts like this as a window into how the club was thinking at the time, rather than as a guide to what it will do next.