Manchester United are searching for a new manager after dismissing Ruben Amorim with Gary Neville backing an icon of world football as the ideal candidate.
Gary Neville has suggested one man who should take the Manchester United job.(Image: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Gary Neville has named Carlo Ancelotti as a stand-out contender to become Manchester United‘s next manager and would be willing to wait until after the World Cup for Brazil’s head coach.
United are searching for a new manager following the sacking of Ruben Amorim and are holding discussions with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as they initially seek to appoint an interim manager until the end of the season. Darren Fletcher oversaw the match against Burnley and is expected to remain in the dugout for this weekend’s fixture against Brighton.
Former Real Madrid manager Ancelotti has previously enjoyed Premier League succes. The Italian legend secured the title in 2009/2010 with Chelsea and has also managed Everton.
That track record is crucial in Neville’s view, with United’s permanent appointment needing to meet four essential requirements to avoid the mistakes the club has made since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.
“With these last 12 years being a period of massive underperformance for Manchester United managers, there are certain boxes the next candidate now needs to tick,” Neville wrote in the Overlap newsletter.
“1. You have to be able to handle the media and the noise which comes with this club. It is what it is so get over it and deal with it. It’s why you’re getting paid the big bucks.
Gary Neville-backed Carlo Ancelotti won the Premier League as Chelsea’s manager.(Image: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
“2. You have to show that you can have success getting into the top four, that you can cope with Champions League football and that you can get the best out of a group of players that will include egos and superstars.
“3. You must understand the Premier League and English football culture because it’s different to competing in many of the European leagues.
“4. You also have to understand the Manchester United way, which means you have to be a glass-half-full kind of manager. Be positive and prepared to take risks and play with pace and excitement. In all likelihood that is going to a variation of 4-4-1-1 / 4-2-3-1.
Gary Neville wants Carlo Ancelotti to become the Manchester United manager.(Image: Emilee Chinn – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
“You have got to be pretty special to tick all four of those boxes and, as such, the outstanding candidate for me would be Carlo Ancelotti, even if it would mean potentially delaying his arrival until late July if Brazil reached the World Cup final.
“No-one comes as close to fulfilling everything laid out above than he does. Ironically, the club met with Carlo shortly before his [Sir Alex Ferguson’s] retirement in 2013 and we could have short-circuited this entire process, starting with him at the beginning of the cycle.
“But, by that stage, he was close to agreeing to joining Real Madrid for his first spell in charge and so what might have been a perfect appointment never happened.”
Neville says he would be happy with two other names, too. “After Ancelotti, the next two on my short-list would be Thomas Tuchel and Eddie Howe, Roy Keane’s suggestion and one of the names suggested by Dan Ashworth in 2024,” he wrote.
“Again, they are two candidates who know the Premier League inside out and who both have Champions League experience. Howe now has a major trophy, as well.
“Obviously Tuchel edges it in terms of experience – and the quality of the trophies he has won – with Champions League, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 his biggest achievements. He also reached a Champions League final with PSG. He might have played a back three at times, but he is sufficiently adaptable to fit the United DNA and plays with a back four with England.”