Manchester United have maintained regular contact with Mauricio Pochettino about him becoming their new manager after Ralf Rangnick, a report has claimed.
The Red Devils are going through another period of transition, their fifth since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013. Indeed, Rangnick is the latest coach after the likes of Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal to try to return United to the top of English football.
Rangnick has improved the results following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking in November. Still, his tenure has been marred by reports of dressing room discontent and divide.
The interim boss will stay in the dugout until the end of the season, when he will move into a consultancy role. In the meantime, the search is on for his successor.
According to Le Parisien, via Sport Witness, Rangnick thinks that Ajax’s Erik ten Hag should be his successor.
However, United chiefs supposedly want Paris Saint-Germain’s Pochettino in this summer. The Red Devils tried and failed with an enquiry about his availability before they turned to Rangnick.
Since asking PSG in November, United – whose incoming chief executive Richard Arnold will lead the search for a new manager – and Pochettino have reportedly been in regular contact.
Le Parisien claims that the Argentine has been ‘secretly and ‘discreetly’ holding the talks.
Pochettino has regularly stressed that he feels committed to PSG and he only celebrated his one-year anniversary of the job earlier this month.
Nevertheless, PSG are aware of United’s interest and are also readying themselves.
They have maintained contact with former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
The Frenchman won three successive Champions League titles with Los Blancos. In that sense, he lines up with PSG’s priority aim of winning their first European cup.
Former United midfielder Paul Scholes has urged the Red Devils to appoint either Pochettino – or steal Antonio Conte from Tottenham.
The pundit said: “Conte at Tottenham or Pochettino. I think one of those is the manager we want.
“We know that Conte is up there with [Pep] Guardiola, [Jurgen] Klopp and [Thomas] Tuchel. We know that, that’s a given.
“So I think Man United should be looking for someone like that. Tottenham fans won’t like me saying it, but I think they could probably still get him [in the summer].”