MANCHESTER UNITED may have beaten Sunderland before the international break but Ruben Amorim will still be feeling the heat.
The dramatic turnaround promised by a summer of big transfer spending is yet to materialise.
And although Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Amorim needs three years in the hot seat to prove himself as a coach, that attitude could change if results fail to pick up on a consistent basis.
There is a clear-cut group of top managers United could look to if they give Amorim the chop.
Here, SunSport takes you through six of the standout candidates…
Oliver Glasner
Glasner is assured of immortality at Crystal Palace after their FA Cup triumph against Manchester City and they are also favourites to win the Europa Conference League.
Until Everton’s last-gasp win at the weekend, Palace were on a club record 19-match unbeaten run and they sit an impressive sixth in the Premier League table.
Glasner’s contract at Selhurst Park expires in the summer and however Palace’s season pans out, all the signs point towards him heading into the sunset.
If United part ways with Amorim mid-season, Glasner might go sooner rather than later. Sources have pinpointed him as one of the leading candidates to replace Amorim.
Although Glasner, 51, also swears by the 3-4-2-1 system that Amorim has struggled to sell to United supporters, well-placed sources insist he is a more flexible coach.
Glasner presided over Palace’s 4-0 thrashing of United in May 2024 and the Eagles won 2-0 at Old Trafford in February.
United have also taken a shine to Adam Wharton, who has developed into one of the most coveted midfielders in Europe under Glasner.
Andoni Iraola
Glasner, Iraola and Fabian Hurzeler are the three Premier League coaches of interest to United and Iraola is the most experienced in England.
Bournemouth lost almost their entire back four in the summer but are in the top four, having finished 12th and ninth in Iraola’s first two seasons in charge.
Iraola, 43, is deserving of and destined to move to a bigger club in the near future.
United have failed to beat Iraola’s Bournemouth across four games and suffered back-to-back 3-0 shellackings at Old Trafford.
Iraola’s eye for developing talent led to Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain pillaging them for Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Illia Zabarnyi in the summer.
Antoine Semenyo has been one of the players of the season so far and is already on United’s radar.
If United are to switch to a back four under their next coach, they will need a specialist left winger, which is where Semenyo could come in.
Xavi
When United and Barcelona met for their absorbing Europa League knockout ties in February 2023, it was easy to imagine their coaches having a job swap in the future.
Erik ten Hag was in his element at Barca, a club influenced by Dutch football, and Xavi spoke glowingly about United, the club he made his European debut against in 1998.
The Catalan has not managed since he was sacked by Barca in 2024 and his only managerial experience before then was in Qatar.
Xavi would still be a glamorous and popular choice, going off his esteemed playing career and insistence on stylish football.
The 45-year-old is keeping busy by investing in AI software and half-joked to confidants that the Manchester weather would be a deterrent.
Fabian Hurzeler
An outsider of the Premier League trio, Hurzeler is only 32 and almost certainly too young to take the steep step up to managing United.
Brighton identify excellent coaches for Brighton but not necessarily bigger clubs.
Graham Potter will not be welcomed back by Chelsea or West Ham fans, and Roberto De Zerbi, despite his inflated sense of self-worth, ended up at Ligue 1 also-rans Marseille.
Hurzeler, like Potter, would be wise to clock in for at least three years at Brighton and he is not midway through his second season yet.
Gareth Southgate
The noise around Southgate and United has quietened considerably over the past year, ironically whilst he has been out of work.
Former United sporting director Dan Ashworth endorsed Southgate or Eddie Howe when the club finally cut ties with Ten Hag but chief executive Omar Berrada favoured Amorim.
Ashworth is long gone and Southgate ally Sir Dave Brailsford is no longer on the scene at United after 18 ineffectual months troubleshooting the team’s performance.
Southgate, 55, has said himself he may not manage again and sources close to the former England manager say he has major reservations about the demands at United.
Boyhood United fan Southgate privately believes the club need three or four seasons to become a credible force again in the Champions League. No United manager post-Ferguson has lasted three years.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Solskjaer is back in Manchester and back on the market.
There are some United fans out there who would actually welcome back the longest-serving manager of the post-Ferguson era even though the Norwegian’s most notable ‘feats’ came during the fake football of the Covid era.
United fleetingly considered installing Solskjaer as caretaker last term if Amorim declined their ultimatum to join mid-season.
Given Solskjaer lasted seven months at Besiktas – his first job in management since he was sacked by United three years earlier – he is a longer shot than David Beckham’s strike from the halfway line at Selhurst.
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