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It is no longer news that Manchester United have parted ways with Jose Mourinho, as results under the Portuguese had deteriorated so badly as to no longer be untenable.
Manchester United have made their worst ever start to a Premier League season, finding themselves 11 points off a top four finish and are closer to the relegation spots than they are to top spot points-wise.
To say that things have been bad at Old Trafford under Jose Mourinho would be merely stating the obvious, and his fallouts with players as well as the dour brand of football played under him meant it was only a matter of time before he got the sack, with pundits and fans alike laying bare into him over his perceived outdated tactics.
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Having made the announcement of his sack, the club was silent over his replacement, with the only hint given being that he would be an outsider, which has led the rumor mills to run full circle with speculation over who would be the next man in the dugout. In this piece, we take a look at four top class managers currently without a job who could turn fortunes around at Manchester United.
#4 Antonio Conte
Another one who finds himself out of a job after being sacked by Chelsea in the summer, the Italian is one of the premier tacticians in the world and has the requisite CV to manage a club like Manchester United.
The 49-year-old began his coaching career in his native Italy and made a name for himself at first Atalanta, then Siena, who he guided back to Serie A on the first attempt before being appointed by his former club Juventus in 2011.
The Bianconerri had been struggling since their promotion to the top level after being relegated in 2006 for their complicity on the Calciopoli scandal.
In his first season, he totally reinvented the club, and helped the Old Lady to win its first league title in almost a decade, which they achieved without losing a match (becoming the first team to finish a season unbeaten since the Serie A expanded to a 38-game, 20 team league).
He introduced a 3-5-2 system of playing which brought out the best of midfielders like Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba.
Conte departed Juventus after four years of utter dominance in which he established the club as the undisputed best in Italy, leading it to four consecutive league titles in each of the seasons he managed the club.
He was appointed as Chelsea manager in 2016, and despite widespread cynicism to his system due to its unmitigated failures in the past, he successfully implemented the three-at-the-back formation, with which Chelsea became an almost unstoppable force, and won the league in record-breaking fashion.
His system of play was seen as so successful, that he helped usher in a new 'philosophy', with no fewer than 16 Premier League clubs, as well as the England national team going on to attempt this playing pattern. Not bad for a formation which was classified DOA just a year prior.
Falling outs with the board and players meant that Conte was on a short lease, it therefore cane as no surprise when his contract was terminated by the club in June.
However, Conte's tenure at Chelsea has to be classified as a success, while his innovative system would forever immortalize him in the annals of Premier League management.
Conte was a constant thorn in the flesh of United during his two year spell at Chelsea, beating the Mancunians 4-0 en route his record breaking run to the EPL title, while he also won the 2018 FA Cup at the expense of the Red Devils.
However, considering the acrimonious circumstances surrounding the way he departed Chelsea, Conte would hold no sentimental attachments to The Blues and would be an ideal fit for United.
#3 Laurent Blanc
The 52-year-old former French international is another manager who fits the bill as a potential replacement for Mourinho as Manchester United coach.
Blanc had a distinguished playing career, representing some of the biggest clubs in the world including Inter Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United, winning a plethora of titles during his playing days.
He was also a seasoned international, making 97 appearances for the French national team and won the biggest trophy in football in 1998: the World Cup. In addition to that, he also won a European Championship two years later, so the players in the United dressing room can identify with him as a former superstar.
His coaching CV is also pretty impressive, as after cutting his teeth at Bordeaux and leading the modest club to a surprise Ligue 1 triumph in 2008, he moved on to PSG in 2013, where the club's dominance of French football truly started.
Under his guidance, the Parisian club won 11 of the 12 domestic trophies available, including three consecutive Ligue 1 titles, with their only failure coming in the 2013/2014 Coupe de France, which was won by Guingamp.
His spell at PSG brought him in contact with some of the biggest names in football, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Thiago Silva, so he wouldn't be out of place managing the superstars at Manchester United, while his status as a former French international could help him connect with Paul Pogba.
He has been out of management since parting company with PSG in 2016, but an offer to coach the biggest club in England and test himself on the big stages once more would undoubtedly tempt the Ales born former defender out of his golf playing vacation, while his experience as a former Red Devil would also be to his advantage.
#2 Arsene Wenger
Wenger may seem a ridiculous option at first choice, due to his two decade association with United's great enemy Arsenal, while his last major honour was over 15 years ago (With all due respect to the FA Cup).
However, dismissing the 68-year-old at first glance would be to ignore a fundamental aspect of Wenger’s last decade at Arsenal, which was the financial restriction placed on the club’s recruitment based on the huge expenses to build their stadium.
Wenger did not have access to top quality players, as the club was not financially buoyant to remain competitive in the market with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City for the best talent, so he instead had to devise a model whereby the club’s extensive scouting system sought out budding talent on the cheap across Europe, then bred them into superstars and sold them off for a healthy profit.
This model even though it did not translate into on-field success, was extremely useful for the club’s finances, and ensured Arsenal steadily posted profits, which is an increasingly rare occurrence for big clubs today.
That Wenger was still able to achieve some modicum of success and ensure the club still qualified for the Champions League despite having such inferior players is a testament to his managerial abilities.
Wenger is one of the most innovative managers tactically in the history of the game, and his records with Arsenal in the earlier part of his tenure when he had the privilege of coaching some of the best players in the world speaks for itself.
At United, Arsene would be in charge of some a team of players with a lot of potential, and given his propensity for developing players, getting peak performances out of them would not be a problem, while also possessing the requisite man management skills to tame the egos in the United dressing room, as when it comes to man management, there are not many better than Wenger in the history of football.
Moreover, the next appointment at United could be a short fix, a short-term appointment in a caretaker capacity to oversee the managerial affairs of the club until the end of the season, when they go for their preferred option, which looks like Mauricio Pochetino, and it is difficult to see beyond Wenger for a perfect fit for this role (although this could be a snag due to his history of long term commitments)..
#1 Zinedine Zidane
Considered by many to be the ideal candidate for the role, Zinedine Zidane acheieved immense success during his playing days, establishing himself as one of the all-time greats with his displays on the field for Real Madrid, Juventus, and the French national team.
Upon retirment, Zinedine Zidane ventured into management and was in charge of the youth setup at Real for some years before making the step up as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, where they helped the club achieve the long awaited La Decima.
He got his big break when he was asked to step in as Benitez' replacement in 2016 and many saw it to be a short term appointment till the end of the season until a more experienced coach could be brought in.
However, Zidane absolutely defied expectations, leading an unfancied Real side to win the 2016 Champions League, which is a feat they repeated for the next three years consecutively.
There were also other trophies won in La Liga as well, as the FIFA World Cup, and Zidane ended his tenure as Real boss with an impressive nine trophies won in just two and half years before shockingly announcing his resignation after guiding the club to an unprecedented third consecutive Champions League triumph.
Zidane did not achieve his success on the basis of any great tactical innovation. Instead, he elected to focus on his man management of the humongous egos at Real Madrid (maybe his status as a former Galactico helped play a role), getting the otherwise immensely competitive Ronaldo to accept rotation.
Manchester United finds themselves in a similar situation to Real Madrid after the departure of Rafa Benitez in 2016, and given the way he successfully steadied the ship at the Bernabeu, he could go on to achieve similar success at Old Trafford.
