Eddie Howe is content to wait. Mick Brown, a former Manchester United chief scout, told Football Insider the 48-year-old is “content taking a break from football until the right opportunity comes up” after walking away from Newcastle in the summer, and will not accept a job he sees as a lateral move.

That has not stopped him moving to the top of United’s internal list. Sources at the club have told Football Insider that Howe would be the preferred replacement if Carrick is dismissed, with his Premier League and Champions League experience judged to tick the two boxes INEOS want from a head coach.

Carrick’s record and INEOS’s position

Carrick signed a two-year permanent contract after taking charge in January following Ruben Amorim’s dismissal and dragging United from drift back into the Champions League with a third-placed finish. The club confirmed the deal at the end of last season.

The start to this one has been thinner. One win from the opening five Premier League matches has lifted the volume around his position, but there is no immediate move against him. Fabrizio Romano, cited by Football365, reported United “have not made any movement to contact other coaches” and are “not in direct negotiation” with alternatives, with INEOS hoping the picture stays “quiet for the next weeks and, they hope, months”.

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Why Howe fits the brief

Howe left Newcastle on 30 July, after nearly five years that included Champions League qualification in two separate seasons and the Carabao Cup in 2025. Sky Sports reported his departure as a mutual step away after a difficult summer in the transfer market.

He has not managed since. The CV that makes him attractive to United, promotion with Bournemouth, cup silverware with Newcastle and two Champions League campaigns on a mid-ranked budget, is the same CV that lets him be selective about where he goes next.

England is the job he wants most

Howe’s preference, according to a Telegraph report cited in Football365’s coverage, is the England post, which he regards as “the ultimate honour for any Englishman”. A club return, in his thinking, would need to be “something really special”.

That ordering of priorities is the obstacle United would have to clear if the Carrick situation deteriorates. The England job is not vacant, and the Football Association is not expected to move imminently, which leaves United free to put their case, but not with any certainty of acceptance.

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For now Carrick stays. The next Premier League weekend after the international break is when the next data point arrives.

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