Another year, another Manchester United managerial search.
The sacking of Ruben Amorim after 14 months in charge, following a series of disputes around transfers and tactics, has left Darren Fletcher in interim control ahead of this week’s games against Burnley and Brighton & Hove Albion.
A caretaker manager could yet be hired to see United through to the end of the season, and the club seem set on making an alternative permanent appointment in the summer, when more candidates come on the market.
But who should they be targeting? We asked our senior data analyst, Mark Carey, to investigate the stylistic fits according to the numbers, and a panel of Athletic writers to make their picks.
What the data shows about United’s contenders
What exactly do United want from this next permanent manager?
That may sound like a trite question to ask, but there has been a confused picture when you look at those who have taken the big chair in their dugout over the past decade. An exhaustive list of names should be whittled down into simple categories that reflect the priorities of the club in the medium-to-long term.
A young, talented coach who “understands the club” would lead you down the path of Darren Fletcher, Kieran McKenna or Michael Carrick — the latter being available after parting ways with Championship side Middlesbrough in the summer after almost three years.
As former United players or members of their coaching staff, all three options would likely please the fanbase. However, it would still be a significant step up for any of them to take on a permanent position, considering Ipswich manager McKenna and Carrick have predominantly spent their time as managers/head coaches in the English Football League, not the top flight.
Another United playing hero, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, is older and more experienced in management than that trio. He has had this job before, and could well do so again on a caretaker basis after holding talks with the club on Tuesday.
The end to Solskjaer’s near three-year reign, after the success of his initial interim spell led to a permanent appointment, was insipid with four losses and a draw in the seven games before being sacked in November 2021, but it is worth remembering that there were good times under his leadership. This can be seen using data from ClubElo — a measure of team strength that allocates points for every result, weighted by the quality of the opposition faced — which tracks United’s rating over the past decade and beyond.
Comparing Solskjaer to others who came before and after him at the club, there is every reason to believe that United could experience another short-term bounce under the 52-year-old.
Box-office managerial names can also rouse excitement, making it understandable why Xavi, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann have been mentioned. However, the practicalities of those options must be acknowledged, with the latter three involved with national teams preparing for a World Cup that is now just over five months away.
If United intend to wait until the end of the season to hire a permanent manager, there would be little opportunity for whoever comes in to do any planning during pre-season, with the new appointment unlikely to arrive until July at the earliest.
Given the manner in which Amorim departed, it seems unlikely that United would wish to persist with a 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1) system. Should they do so, though, Oliver Glasner of Crystal Palace would be the obvious candidate. The 51-year-old’s track record in domestic and European competition speaks for itself, and he has proven ability to get the most out of a squad relative to resources. He is also less dogmatic in using a back three than Amorim was, having employed a 4-2-3-1 set-up during his time at German club Wolfsburg.
Had long-time Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini not taken a new role with Roma last summer, he would have been an option high up on the list. Gasperini has left a lasting influence on many European coaches and is lauded for his front-foot, aggressive style of play on and off the ball when using a back three system — consistently delivering European football and finally winning silverware with Atalanta in the 2023-24 Europa League.
If we look beyond style alone, could we use data to explore which managers (or head coaches) have overdelivered in terms of their output in the past 18 months?
One simple analysis would be to map a team’s points per game compared with their squad’s value, relative to the league average. When doing so across Europe’s top seven domestic leagues, you can pick out which managers deviate from expectation.
Put simply, those teams further above the (yellow) model line overperformed relative to the resources they had. Those below the line, including United themselves, are notable for their underperformance.
Still, some of these names are worthy of note.
For example, Ole Werner had a strong 2024-25 with Werder Bremen, whose eighth-placed finish earned the 37-year-old a move to fellow German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in the summer, while Julian Schuster, 40, exceeded expectations by leading Freiburg to fifth in the same division and Europa League qualification that season — his first as a head coach.
United would do well to try to find a manager who is performing that way now — spotting talent that is on an upward trajectory. Therefore, performing the above analysis on the 2025-26 campaign so far throws up some interesting names.
Staying in Germany’s top flight, Hoffenheim’s 48-year-old boss Christian Ilzer has taken them from one place above the relegation zone at the end of last season to being in the Champions League argument at the time of writing with an entertaining, all-action style that resembles the approaches taken by those who went before him at that club. Hoffenheim have a good history of employing talented managers, with Ralf Rangnick, Nagelsmann and (now Stuttgart head coach) Sebastian Hoeness all spending time in the dugout in recent years. If Ilzer continues at the rate he is operating, he will be worth a closer eye by the summer.
Unai Emery is chief among those outperforming their budget, and is a master tactician who has reignited his reputation at Aston Villa. While it might not be a realistic option, few need reminding of his managerial acumen as his side sit on the same points as Manchester City to maintain a three-horse title race in the Premier League as we head into 2026.
Another option could come from Emery’s previous club, Villarreal, where Marcelino Garcia Toral is working wonders in Spain’s La Liga. Last season’s fifth-placed finish is currently being bettered, with only Real Madrid and Barcelona above them in the table at the halfway stage.
Unlike Amorim’s setup, there is a simplicity to 60-year-old Marcelino’s formation: a preferred 4-4-2 that is designed to get the most out of his players.
As shown in this season’s playstyle wheel, Villarreal might not dominate possession but their counter-attacking style (Patient attack score: 47 out of 99) excites the fans in a different way. With a compact defensive block that gives little away (Chance prevention: 83/99), Marcelino’s side can spring forward to create lucrative opportunities (Shot quality: 92/99).
Exploring the lesser-heralded managers might not be a bad move for United’s key decision-makers to consider. They have gone with the big names; they have gone with men who were title winners in weaker leagues.
A change of tack — underpinned by data — might reveal some refreshing options that look beyond the obvious candidates.
Mark Carey
Our writers’ picks for the next United manager
Eduardo Tansley: Unai Emery
Manchester United should be interested in a manager such as Unai Emery. Just look at his record.
Over three years at Aston Villa, he has proved to be one of the Premier League’s best coaches, guiding the club from relegation danger on arrival to three consecutive European campaigns. After a turbulent summer transfer window last year, they have emerged as surprise title challengers, winning 11 games on the trot in November and December. The four-time Europa League-winning coach suffered only one home defeat in 2025 across all competitions.
Emery, 54, has even helped revive the careers of United outcasts Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Victor Lindelof at Villa.
The question is whether the Spaniard would want the move.
He is leading Villa toward Champions League qualification for the second time in three seasons, and is trusted with significant authority within the club, whose entire structure has essentially been rebuilt around him. The only downside for Emery at Villa is having to work under significant financial constraints, which complicates recruitment.
His mixed record previously at Arsenal and Paris-Saint Germain (in Europe) leads some to believe he is better suited to an underdog club.
As with Amorim, he is rigid in his tactical approach, and unlike other likely candidates, he is under contract until the end of the 2028-29 season, so would not come cheap. But on the numbers alone, there seem to be few better candidates.
Cerys Jones: Oliver Glasner
Sometimes the right answer is the obvious one.
Manchester United need a manager who can transform a Premier League club from one struggling for stability into one who can compete consistently with top teams and challenge for trophies. If this person looks on course to be out of contract next summer — so would not involve the expense of handing a multi-million-pound compensation package to his current employers — even better.
Why, hello there, Oliver Glasner.
The highlights of Glasner’s Palace career are their Wembley wins against Manchester City (last season’s FA Cup final) and Liverpool (the Community Shield this term) but United will be most drawn by his ability to cultivate consistency, as shown by the south Londoners’ 19-game unbeaten run from April to October last year. A downturn in results during the current campaign should be noted, but with the caveat of having to stretch an under-equipped squad across European competition, too.
Glasner has proven tactical nous, having won the 2021-22 Europa League managing German club Eintracht Frankfurt, and while he has played with a back three at Palace, in the past he has shown a willingness to flex his system to fit the squad available.
His ceiling is clearly high, and the prospect of a hierarchy willing and able to back him in the transfer market — one of his main frustrations at Palace — would be difficult to pass up.
Nick Miller: Julian Nagelsmann
You tie yourself in knots when it comes to choosing who the next Manchester United manager should be. A glance at the potential candidates reveals a group of people who are all flawed in some way. So the choice then becomes: who is the least flawed of those names? Or, whose flaws matter the least?
In the case of Julian Nagelsmann, his primary flaw is that he won’t be available until a couple of weeks before the start of next season, given his duties with the German national team at the World Cup. But the right man is still the right man, even if you have to wait for him.
Nagelsmann, 38, plays exciting football and is tactically flexible, which already gives him a couple of marks up on Amorim. He has also worked with United’s director of recruitment Christopher Vivell at RB Leipzig, so having a manager who gets on with the club hierarchy is another plus. He has managed a similar unwieldy, political colossus at Bayern Munich, too, and while he did get sacked there, the consensus seems to be that it was a harsh decision.
Finally, who wouldn’t want to bask in the reaction of the assorted former United player cognoscenti if he turns up at the training ground on his skateboard?
Sarah Shephard: Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino obviously has business to attend to come the summer as head coach of the United States’ national team during a World Cup largely being played on U.S. soil, but after that? Well, his two-year contract will be up following the tournament’s conclusion in July, and you’d have to imagine that the prospect of returning to the Premier League would be an attractive one for the former Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea manager.
The 53-year-old Argentinian has been linked with the Manchester United job on multiple occasions in their post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but for whatever reason, he has not yet been their chosen one. His ability to develop and nurture talent, married with a high-intensity, pressing style of play, feels like it ticks many of United’s boxes, although his poor defensive record at Chelsea could be a concern.
One thing Pochettino clearly has is the ability to handle the pressure of a top-level club job and “managing upwards”. That experience was not exactly a positive one in his most recent Premier League role in west London, but it would stand him in good stead if he does end up finally making the move to the red side of Manchester.
