Eddie Howe reaches decision on joining Man Utd as he receives ‘approach’ and is ‘ready to return’

Lewis Oldham

13 Oct 2026 11:39 AM

Eddie Howe has been linked with a return to management at Man Utd.

According to reports, ex-Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe is ‘ready to return’ to management and has reached a verdict on joining Manchester United.

Howe has been out of work since his shock exit from Newcastle United in the summer, but he has been heavily linked with a potential return over the past few months.

The ex-AFC Bournemouth boss has been mooted as a successor to England boss Thomas Tuchel, and he is also linked with a move to Man Utd.

With Man Utd, this is partly because they have had a poor start to the 2026/27 campaign under Michael Carrick, who has only one Premier League win in six games and has also been eliminated from the Carabao Cup.

READ: Man Utd to appoint Bruno after Conte and Howe; next six managers predicted

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Carrick is currently the favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked.

Eddie Howe ‘ready to return’ as he decides on joining Man Utd

Now, our colleagues at TEAMtalk are reporting that Howe is now ‘ready to return’ to football management, though he is ‘determined to wait for the right project’.

It is also said that Howe has received an ‘approach’ from Ligue Un side Lens, but he has ‘rejected’ an offer to join the Champions League club.

The report claims: ‘We can reveal that French club Lens made enquiries about Howe’s situation last month after parting company with Dino Toppmoller, who had replaced Pierre Sage only months earlier.

Lens could in theory have offered the former Newcastle boss the opportunity to take charge of a club competing in the Champions League, an attractive proposition on paper for a manager looking to return to the European stage. However, despite the appeal of European football, the opportunity was not viewed as the right fit for Howe, and it is understood that his camp did not consider it a suitable next step.’

And this may also be because Howe wants to join Man Utd, with insider Indykaila claiming that he wants to join the Premier League giants.

They said on X: ‘Eddie Howe desperate for the Manchester United job #mufc.’

Pundit Paul Merson thinks Howe will “probably” be Man Utd’s next manager after they did not appoint someone else in the summer.

Merson claimed: “United should have gone for Unai Emery.

“They should have done whatever they could to get someone like him. Someone with major experience, who has been around the block. This is a hard job.

“Now, who else is going to come in? Eddie Howe is probably the man they’d go for. He’s the only one about isn’t he?

“Antonio Conte could go in, he’d steady the ship. But I don’t know if he wants to play entertaining football and set the world alight. I don’t know what the Man Utd owners want.”

Manchester United Eddie Howe