Fabrizio Romano’s “here we go” landed on Thursday evening, the industry shorthand that confirmed what every Manchester United source had briefed through the day: Mauricio Pochettino is the next man in the Old Trafford dugout.
The 54-year-old Argentine has agreed a deal that runs to the summer of 2029 after Manchester United triggered the buyout clause in his US Soccer contract. A formal club announcement is expected on Friday.
Fox Sports put the buyout figure at around $10m, three months after Pochettino signed a four-year extension with the US federation on the back of the United States reaching the last 16 at the home World Cup in the summer.
Carrick gone, 10 games, one win
Michael Carrick was sacked on Thursday after a Premier League start widely described as United’s worst in 40 years. His permanent tenure lasted less than six months.
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One win in 10 games has left the club 18th in the Premier League, deep in the relegation zone. Pochettino becomes the eighth permanent appointment at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
Nine days to Anfield
His first game in the dugout is a trip to Liverpool on Sunday, 22 November, an opener that arrives with United’s players back from international duty and their new head coach barely a week into the job.
Pochettino is expected to remain with the United States squad for their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final legs against Haiti before flying to Manchester next week to meet his new players.
He had held a long-standing ambition to work at Old Trafford and had been linked with the job on multiple occasions during the post-Ferguson years. He arrives back in English football two-and-a-half years after leaving Chelsea at the end of the 2023-24 season.
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Before taking over the US national team in September 2024, Pochettino managed Tottenham Hotspur, where he reached the 2019 Champions League final, Paris Saint-Germain, where he won Ligue 1, and Chelsea.
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