Sporting boss clear favourite to replace sacked Ten Hag at Man Utd, but Xavi talk continues

Manchester United decided to stick with Erik ten Hag in the summer but four defeats in nine games to start the season – including a genuinely embarrassing rout by Tottenham at Old Trafford – brought his reign to a crashing halt which probably should have come in the summer.

That FA Cup final win only ever seemed to have delayed the inevitable and five months later Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS brains trust have finally pulled a trigger they were not brave enough to before.

In their official statement confirming his exit, Manchester United said that assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy would ‘take charge of the team as interim head coach, supported by the current coaching team, whilst a permanent head coach is recruited’.

But who is in line for that job? England have taken Thomas Tuchel off the market and the USMNT have snatched Mauricio Pochettino away. The current favourites for the post are here, based on the latest odds from Oddschecker.

10) Andoni Iraola
Comes to something, doesn’t it, when the reason to think that the Bournemouth manager shouldn’t become the Manchester United manager is not because the idea is inherently ludicrous for a club of United’s size but because right now it’s not entirely clear that it’s a risk worth taking for any manager whose career is currently on the up.

9) Unai Emery
We’re sure there are some reasons why a manager who has already experienced the unique joys of managing a big club in this country would now abandon the good thing he has going on at Aston Villa for the Old Trafford soap opera. We’re just not exactly sure right now what those reasons might in fact be.

8) Marco Silva
Silva’s impressive work with Fulham deserves the recognition of seeing him linked with big and exciting opportunities. So we’re not sure what he’s done wrong to end up linked with this job.

7) Graham Potter
Arf! Just imagine if United did sack Ten Hag and they replaced him with the man who crashed and burned so spectacularly at Chelsea. Potter has plenty of mitigation because Chelsea are Chelsea, but the ex-Brighton manager surely needs to re-establish his credentials for the top jobs elsewhere before being considered by the biggest clubs again.

And just ponder the reaction among the egos in the United dressing room. Some of these lads refused to listen to Ralf Rangnick having had to Google the German when he was appointed. The prospect of this squad tuning in to Potter seems… remote.

But it’s an appointment that would certainly chime with Dan Ashworth. For what it’s worth, Potter is also currently to be found at the head of the betting for the Spurs job – one that may also be available sooner than expected given not every team plays against Spurs the way United did.

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6) Julian Nagelsmann
Even becoming the manager of Germany hasn’t proved quite enough to stop Nagelsmann being strongly linked with every big Premier League job going. Does feel unavoidable that he takes one of them at some stage, but it surely isn’t going to be this one at this time.

5) Thomas Frank
Might have made slightly more sense if Brentford hadn’t spent much of last season flailing about on the fringes of the relegation battle. Though he does already know how to bring out the worst in Man United, which appears to be a prerequisite for the job.

F365 DECIDES: Who do you think Man Utd should appoint as their next manager? 🗳️ Vote here.

4) Gareth Southgate
We’re really not sure United fans would tolerate this based on their reaction to links during the summer, but my word would the press boys be thrilled.

Any indication this might really be a goer will have the think-pieces flowing about just how much Southgate deserves such a chance after nearly winning some things with England. For maximum banter, he would need to make his first move as United manager the signing of Jordan Henderson.

And Man United might have to move a bit quicker than previously thought, because a post-takeover Everton are reportedly keen. It would not do for United to lose out on their apparent top choice to Everton, come on.

3) Xavi
There are growing reports that INEOS have spoken to the former Barcelona manager twice in recent months. And as long as he can bring a couple of Barcelona players with him, he’s in.

2) Ruud van Nistelrooy
A caretaker manager stint really did feel achingly inevitable when he was installed as Ten Hag’s assistant in the summer, even though that stint may very well now last but a single game.

It helps Van Nistelrooy that he is the ‘cool’ anti-Ten Hag. Just put your fingers in your ears whenever anyone points out that United’s finishing is the biggest single problem among the cavalcade of current problems, and that giving the bloke in charge of that any additional power might not necessarily therefore be a great idea.

Ten Hag can and has pointed to injuries, poor finishing and, justifiably after the West Ham defeat, unfortunate refereeing as reasons behind this bold new era taking Manchester United into 14th with no European wins in over a year. He could not find a solution to those problems; can his right-hand man?

1) Ruben Amorim
Strongly linked with Spurs pre-Ange and Liverpool pre-Slot having done plenty of eye-catching work with an enterprising and progressive Sporting side. Has bided his time for the right big job to come along, which seemed very wise indeed. Right up until the point he apparently decided this was in fact that job. We admire him greatly, but do find ourselves doubting his thought process here.

Time will tell, but if he does go down this road it’s a huge gamble with almost all the risk on his side of the ledger rather than United’s given how far they done fell.

MORE: Man Utd | Erik Ten Hag | Gareth Southgate