Premier League, transfers
In Mauricio Pochettino, Manchester United have finally hired a proper manager
After years of near-misses, Man United have finally landed Mauricio Pochettino, a manager with the kind of pedigree, class and credibility the club have been looking for.
Mark Ogden ·
Mauricio Pochettino is the coach that Manchester United have needed for a decade, but it sums up the dysfunctional nature of the Premier League's biggest club that they have only now hired a guy they rejected three times before.
Will it be better late than never? That's what United will be desperately hoping after persuading Pochettino to turn his back on the United States job to replace Michael Carrick as manager at Old Trafford.
Taking charge at United comes with plenty of problems on and off the pitch for Pochettino. But, after so many near misses -- he was on the verge of taking the top job three times since 2019 -- maybe he really is the right man at the right time for a club that has been locked in a downward spiral for longer than any of their supporters cares to remember.
What made Pochettino the right man for Man United
The 54-year-old, who built an exciting young team at Tottenham Hotspur before stints at Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and the USMNT, was the "next big thing" the first time he was overlooked by United in favor of José Mourinho in 2016. And while the stars have now finally aligned for United and Pochettino, there is still an element of farce about the appointment.
Had United resisted the temptation to hand Carrick a two-year deal at the end of last season and move for Pochettino, they could have landed him for nothing at the end of the World Cup. But they have instead had to make a $10 million compensation payment to the U.S. Soccer Federation following his decision to sign a four-year contract extension in August.
Pochettino's release fee will be a timely reminder to United, however, that pedigree and experience are worth paying for. Not since they hired Mourinho in 2016 to go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City have United turned to a coach with a proven record in the Premier League and Champions League.
Since dismissing Mourinho in December 2018 following the souring of his relationship with the dressing room and boardroom, United have gambled on either former players with no managerial credentials -- Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Carrick -- or rising coaches with no body of work in a major European league, like Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. But by appointing Pochettino, United have finally learned that inexpensive and inexperienced hires are quickly chewed up and spat out by the Old Trafford meat grinder.
It has never been a job for a novice, and Pochettino is United's first credible appointment since Mourinho. This matters at a club of United's magnitude.
The supporters need to be convinced by the manager's track record and so do the players. When each of Pochettino's recent predecessors have hit the turbulence of bad results, he has been unable to arrest the slump by motivating the players who have, almost like clockwork, lost faith and respect in the manager and taken advantage of his weakness.
In Pochettino, United's players will see on the sideline a coach who has worked at the biggest clubs and with the best players -- Harry Kane, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé. The Argentine is also somebody who has built a team capable of challenging for the Premier League and Champions League at Spurs.
None of Solskjær, Ten Hag, Amorim or Carrick had the same status; they lacked the ability to unite a squad behind them. But Pochettino -- most notably with Spurs and the USMNT at this year's World Cup -- has shown he can forge a team spirit and togetherness that has been absent from Old Trafford arguably since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
But while Pochettino ends United's search for a convincing coach, he still has a huge task ahead of him to breathe new life into the club. There is ongoing hostility from the supporters toward both ownership groups, the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group, and finances are so tight at United that money for new signings in January will be extremely limited.
Pochettino also inherits a squad built by six different managers -- Luke Shaw, who played for Pochettino at Southampton, was signed by Louis van Gaal in 2014 -- so it will take time and patience to mold such a disparate group of players into a functioning team. But United at least now have a coach in Pochettino who has walked the walk before, and that is crucial for a club in such dire need of assurance, leadership and clear direction.