Pochettino doomed at Man Utd as career savaged by ex-Old Trafford chief

Manchester United fans have been warned to expect more failure under Mauricio Pochettino, with former Old Trafford official Mick Brown strongly questioning the Argentine’s credentials.

Pochettino has been linked with the Man Utd job ever since he met with Sir Alex Ferguson for lunch in 2016 to discuss management and other ideas. He was then approached in the summer of 2024 before United ultimately decided to extend Erik ten Hag’s contract after failing to find an ideal replacement.

United could have snared Pochettino for free this summer after his contract with the USMNT expired. Instead, they opted to give Michael Carrick the role full-time, which saw Pochettino pen a new four-year deal with U.S. Soccer.

But with Carrick getting sacked on Thursday morning, United are now set to pay Pochettino’s $10million (£7.5m) exit clause.

Indeed, terms between the 54-year-old and INEOS are understood to have been fully agreed. Pochettino will take over as United’s new boss after managing the USA in their double-header against Haiti during the current international break.

Pochettino will be expected to turn things around for United, particularly after his brilliant spell at Tottenham Hotspur between 2014 and 2019.

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However, United’s ex-chief scout Brown has criticised Pochettino’s career and tipped him to seriously disappoint at Old Trafford.

“Pochettino has been somebody who Man United have admired for quite a while now,” he told Football Insider.

“But the main worry I have is, there’s always lots of talk about what he did at Tottenham, but not a lot about how he struggled at both PSG and Chelsea after he left.

“He was also involved in that [Folarin Balogun] red card controversy at the World Cup, which wasn’t necessarily his fault but happened on his watch.

‘Major doubts’ over Pochettino at Man Utd – observer

“I don’t think he’s necessarily this amazing manager that he is so often made out to be, and I hope I’m wrong and he proves me wrong, but I do have some major doubts.

“Even during his time at Tottenham, everybody likes to ignore the way things fell apart for them, and the reason he was eventually sacked.

“People might not have been happy with it, but things weren’t working for him there, and things haven’t exactly worked for him since.

“So what do Man United think is going to change for him now? To be honest, I think it would be a mistake to hire him when there are other options available.

“To be honest, whoever they went after, I’m not sure the circumstances are in place under the current ownership to succeed, so I’m not particularly optimistic about this.”

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