The United States Men’s National Team is preparing for twin do-or-die Nations League quarterfinal matches against Haiti, but coach Mauricio Pochettino is looking elsewhere.
He’s set to become the next Manchester United manager—pending, of course, its decision to part ways with existing leader Michael Carrick. That decision is expected to be made in the next 24 hours.
United is sitting in the Premier League’s relegation zone with eight points from its opening 10 fixtures. Fans are protesting its ownership group, players are protesting its tactics and the energy around the club has reached a catastrophic low.
Pochettino, should he accept the position, would be tasked with changing that. It wouldn’t be his first Premier League fix job: he joined Chelsea in the spring of 2023 under very similar circumstances. It didn’t go well—and the reasons why loom large over this United role, too.
A cultural black hole
When Pochettino joined Chelsea in 2023, the club was languishing at a historically low ebb. Longtime owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell thanks to his role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict; alternative investment consortium BlueCo had just stepped in to purchase it in Abramovich’s stead. BlueCo’s philosophy was immediately controversial within the league: the consortium believed in large rosters and extreme player contracts amortized over multiple years. Pochettino inherited a wildly overpaid squad that was reportedly too big to fit in Chelsea’s locker room.
