Man United eye interim manager appointment as Mauricio Pochettino deal nears

Manchester United are closing in on a deal to appoint Mauricio Pochettino before their next game against Liverpool with Michael Carrick set to be sacked.

United must strike a deal with US Soccer, with a solution required over the United States’ next two international games in particular, while the club’s hierarchy is meeting at a Monaco summit to finalise a decision over the club’s manager.

Compensation, worth an initial $7m (£5.3m), will be a formality due to the clause in Pochettino’s existing contract, that runs until the 2030 World Cup.

While additional compensation will be required for Pochettino’s trusted coaching staff, including long-time assistant Jesus Perez.

The United States face Concacaf Nations League fixtures against Haiti during the current international break, with an away match on 14 November and a home match in Cincinnati on 18 November.

US Soccer are currently planning for Pochettino to be in charge of both games, though United will push to have Pochettino available sooner, with their next Premier League match against Liverpool at Anfield on 22 November.

Another option is potentially for Darren Fletcher to be handed an interim role once more, should a deal be unable to conclude in time.

While losing Pochettino would be a blow for the USA, The Independent understands that US Soccer has been prepared for the prospect of his exit at some stage before the 2030 World Cup, with a succession plan already in place.

Pochettino’s move back to England would be a major shift in his plans after committing to a four-year build to the 2030 World Cup, having overseen an encouraging, yet ultimately unsuccessful home World Cup this summer, ending in a heavy defeat to Belgium in the last 16.

Pochettino has a four-year contract with the United States (PA)

While Pochettino admitted in September that he was “excited” for the journey to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, he conceded four years is a “long time” and that this commitment was “different”.

“We are serious people,” Pochettino told The Independent and other outlets in a wide-ranging interview. “Now it’s a different thing. When we gave our word to the federation, it was about starting and finishing, after the World Cup. It’s different, maybe, if you ask me now. Because now we commit to four years.

“Always it’s different. Before, it was very easy to say ‘OK, we start now, we prepare the team for the World Cup, we play the World Cup, and then we’ll see.’ [Leaving] before that, it was difficult. Because we committed before. For us, it was the moment to say ‘if some club came, it’s impossible’. Now it’s another question.

“For us it was impossible to think about coming back, or going to another club. Because we received some calls from different clubs. But we cannot go away, first, because we didn’t want to go. Always you can break a contract, say you stop, and that’s it, you agree something. But in the moment I think it wasn’t right for us to create all these situations and expectations.

“And now it’s a four year contract, it’s different. We can next season lose the Copa America or the Gold Cup, and they’re not happy with us, they can sack us, or we can say, ‘ok it’s not in the way that we think’. Four years is different. Maybe now if someone calls in the future, it’s a different, different type. We are excited, we are thinking to spend four years, I think to the next World Cup. But now it’s a long period.”