Manchester United considering Thomas Tuchel to replace Erik ten Hag

United admire other candidates who are already attached to clubs and the attraction of Tuchel is that he is immediately attainable. Officials of the United hierarchy will hold a meeting in London on Tuesday and Ten Hag expects to hold discussions with the club in the coming days.

“So I don’t have any idea that is different,” Ten Hag said when pressed on his future after the goalless draw with Aston Villa, “because they should have told me. We communicate very open, very transparent.

I speak continuously with them and just after the game I have to do my job, talk with the players, manage the players and answer questions from you. We always talk. Every week, I would say every day we talk, so I expect I will speak with them.”

Ten Hag’s position is uncertain as United have won just three of their 11 games this season and are 14th in the Premier League table. They have scored five goals in seven league games – only 19th-placed Southampton have managed fewer.

United are already seven points adrift of the fourth Champions League qualifying place. They have never failed to qualify for the competition in two successive seasons since re-entering it in 1993.

Tuchel met the United co-chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the summer to discuss the possibility of taking over. Ratcliffe told the BBC on Friday, “I don’t want to answer that question” when asked if he had faith in Ten Hag.

Ratcliffe also suggested the decision-makers at United were chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth, whose start dates in July mean they had no official bearing on the decision to keep Ten Hag.

Ashworth said last month he had “none whatsoever” but he wrote in the club yearbook: “Our first big decision of the summer was to extend Erik ten Hag’s contract as men’s first-team manager to June 2026, reflecting our strong belief in him as one of Europe’s top coaches, and the partner we want to continue working with to get the team back to the levels expected.”

 

Berrada and Ashworth offered full backing for Ten Hag five weeks ago but United won two of their seven fixtures between the September and October internationals. They have had their worst start to a league season in 35 years.

Tuchel, 51, welcomed United’s interest last season and spoke effusively about the club before Bayern’s games against United in the Champions League group stage last year. The German referred to United’s aura and mentioned their 1999 Champions League final comeback against Bayern unprompted.

Tuchel also has Premier League pedigree from his stint with Chelsea, where he won the Champions League and Club World Cup and the club reached three other finals. Tuchel would not represent longevity. He spent 18 months at Bayern and Chelsea, his last two clubs, and two-and-a-half years at Paris Saint-Germain.

He became the only PSG coach to reach the Champions League final in 2020 when they lost to Bayern. Tuchel presided over successive Ligue 1 title triumphs with PSG and a Bundesliga title victory with Bayern in 2023.