Manchester United 'has agreement in principle with Mauricio Pochettino' as decision due on Michael Carrick's future

Wednesday, 11 November 2026 at 12:25

Manchester United has reportedly reached an agreement in principle for Mauricio Pochettino to be their next head coach if Michael Carrick is sacked.

The club's chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox are due to hold talks with United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco on Wednesday, where they are expected to make a decision about Carrick's future.

Pochettino, who recently signed a contract extension to remain the USA head coach until the 2030 World Cup, is understood to be interested in the Old Trafford position.

Now the 54-year-old Argentine has reached a verbal agreement in principle with the club, Sky Sports News understands, with United expected to pay around £7m to buy him out of his newly-signed contract.

He is still due to coach the USA against Haiti on Saturday as things stand.

Carrick was pictured arriving at United's Carrington training ground on Wednesday morning.

The club is currently in the relegation zone and have suffered their worst start to a season since 1986.

Carrick was given an opportunity to turn the situation around after a 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como and a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth at the end of last month.

United subsequently lost 2-0 at Chelsea, before staging a 3-2 Champions League comeback win against Roma.

On Sunday, United drew 4-4 against Aston Villa, twice coming back after going two goals behind.

Carrick afterwards stressed that he was looking forward to the international break as usual.

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He said: "I'm pretty clear where we need to go and how we need to get there.

"Obviously some of the boys will be flying off around the world and different things, and the group will be split for 10 days or so.

"But as a normal international week is, you know, we'll have some training. We'll have one or two days off, but not too much. But we'll train, and we'll get ready for the next game."

He was initially appointed in January until the end of the 2025-26 season, before being made permanent in the summer after guiding United to a third-place finish.

Sky News