MANCHESTER UNITED are reportedly lining up Thomas Tuchel as a potential replacement for Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman’s job has come under threat in recent weeks amid a terrible run of results.
United have endured their worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign with just eight points from seven games.
And now Ten Hag finds himself under increasing pressure.
Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe refused to publicly back him last week.
According to Manchester Evening News, the businessman is already scouting a potential replacement.
And Tuchel has emerged as the priority target.
Tuchel has been out of work since leaving Bayern Munich in June.
He previously spent 20 months in the Premier League managing Chelsea.
But earlier this year he told Ratcliffe that he did NOT want the United job.
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The Red Devils had been seeking a new manager before Ten Hag’s FA Cup final triumph and considered Tuchel an option.
But the German told officials that he instead wanted some time away from management.
It is currently unclear whether or not his position has changed since then.
Tuchel is yet to be contacted by United officials this season.
Despite the ongoing speculation around his future, Ten Hag insists he would know if his job was at risk.
Following United’s drab 0-0 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday, he said: “I don’t have any idea that is different. 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.
“I think you said it very good – external noise. Internal, we are disappointed, we know we have to do better, especially we need to score more, that is the moment in this area after this block of games where we are really short.
“All the other areas we are doing really well: four clean sheets, so that tells something about the defending and about the organisation, the defending of defensive transitions.
“We are doing really well, we are really improving on that point.
“Our build-up play is good, we are calm and composed. We are creating chances apart from today. Today we should have created more.
“But that area in the box of the opponent, we have to be more ruthless, more clinical, more killing and we have to work on this.”
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
