Manchester United are in contact with Mauricio Pochettino despite the PSG manager not being Ralf Rangnick’s preferred successor, according to reports.
United are conducting a thorough search for a new permanent coach with Pochettino, Ajax boss Erik ten Hag and Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers the three main managers in contention to take over at the club.
Interim manager Rangnick is only in charge of the team until the end of the campaign at which point he will move into a consultancy role, and he is expected to play a part in deciding who takes over.
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Now Le Parisien claims Pochettino and the Red devils have remained in contact behind the scenes ever since Solskjaer was sacked in November – though that does not mean he is certain to land the job.
The Argentine coach has a lot of fans within the corridors of power at Old Trafford – not least from legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson – but the current incumbent of the hotseat has other plans.
Rather than appointing Pochettino, Rangnick’s preference would be for Ten Hag to take over the reins at the club and he is a huge fan of the manager.
The Dutchman has got Ajax playing fine football and they joined an exclusive club this campaign by winning all six of their Champions League group matches.
But, by contrast, Pochettino has faced huge criticism at PSG despite having an 11-point lead in French Ligue 1 and the appetite to appoint him from United’s hierarchy owes more to his time at Tottenham than his stint in Paris.
Le Parisien also claim that PSG are braced for the possibility of losing Pochettino in the summer window and will move to bring in Zidane as his replacement.
Ten Hag has previously been on the radar of Spurs and Newcastle and is noted for his possession-based football, with Ajax star Dusan Tadic full of praise for his manager.
‘He is amazing,’ Tadic told The Telegraph. ‘He is one of the best coaches in the world, without a doubt. He is totally obsessed with football, I am sure it is all he thinks about.
‘You need a manager like that if you want to be one of the best clubs. That is what he has made Ajax. The thing about him that is so impressive is he always seems to have the solution to a problem when you face an opponent.
‘He identifies their strengths and how to stop them, whatever the opposition do, he has a response. He will find a weakness and then he is able to tell the players what we must do to hurt them.
‘It’s so nice. He gives us such an advantage, we always feel like we are one step ahead of the other team. I think, tactically, he is the master. But he is also very good in the way he talks to the players. When you have that combination, it is why he is so good.’
