Manchester United hire the coach they interviewed and passed over in 2024

In May 2024, Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox interviewed Mauricio Pochettino, who had just left Chelsea. That is ESPN's account. United kept Erik ten Hag. Pochettino took the United States job that September.

On Friday, United appointed him anyway.

ESPN reports a two-and-a-half-year contract and a $10 million release clause, which Berrada told U.S. Soccer on Wednesday that United would trigger. Pochettino was the only candidate the club spoke to directly. He starts at Carrington on Wednesday, and his first game is at Anfield on Nov. 22.

He inherits a team in 18th place. United have won one league game of 10, drawn five and lost four, which the Associated Press calls their worst league start in 40 years. Michael Carrick was dismissed on Thursday, 15 games into the two-year contract he signed in May. ESPN reports concern inside the club that, as results turned, he was not paying enough attention to small details, set pieces among them.

GoalPost's ratings put the trouble in one place. United are the 20th-strongest club in the world on our numbers and the 10th-strongest in the Premier League, eight places better than the table says. Among the 10 Premier League clubs in that top 20, their attack rating is sixth. Their defense rating is the weakest of all 20 clubs, from any league. On Nov. 8 they twice came from two goals down to draw 4–4 with Aston Villa, and that was the season in one afternoon: enough going forward to rescue a point, and a need to be rescued.

United's statement called Pochettino "renowned for his high-intensity, attacking style of football." The attack is the half of the team that already works.

Nor is he a coach who arrives with medals from this league. He has never won a major trophy in England, the AP notes; his last attempt was the 2024 League Cup final, lost with Chelsea. He won the French title with Paris Saint-Germain in 2022 and took Tottenham to the 2019 Champions League final. What United are buying, ESPN's sources say, is Premier League experience, a style the crowd will take to, and a man who has lived with the scrutiny before. Their eighth permanent manager since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, by the AP's count, is one they had already turned down once.

The United States pay a different price. U.S. Soccer announced three months ago that Pochettino would lead the team through the 2030 World Cup, the AP reports, after he took the co-hosts to the round of 16 this summer. Chief executive JT Batson and chief operating officer Dan Helfrich now lead a search for his successor. The AP names Pep Guardiola as a likely target and says Under-23 coach Steve Cherundolo, who takes a senior camp next month, could be promoted. The $10 million covers the contract. It does not buy back the three months.

Pochettino still has two games to coach for them, both against Haiti in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal: Saturday, and Tuesday in Cincinnati. On Wednesday he is due at Carrington.