GARY LINEKER has thrown an unexpected name into the hat to replace Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman was sacked as Manchester United manager on Monday following weeks of speculation.
Match of the Day host Lineker joined Micah Richards and Alan Shearer to discuss United’s next steps on their podcast The Rest Is Football.
The panel speculated on who would come in to take over from Ten Hag long term.
And Lineker put forward Lee Carsley, England’s current interim coach, as a surprise candidate.
Lineker said: “I’m going to throw in a name here. I think it would be very interesting, he’s certainly a brilliant coach.
“A certain Lee Carsley – who they probably won’t think about.
“He’s a really imaginative coach, he plays attacking football.
“From what I heard from England players, they thought he was really good. Really interesting and thoughtful on the game.”
Lineker admitted Carsley had “struggled” with the media attention during his brief time as England boss.
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He added: “I think that’s quite easy to learn quickly.”
Carsley is currently in charge of the Three Lions following the departure of Gareth Southgate in the summer.
It’s not gone well during his time as interim manager with England losing at home to Greece earlier this month.
During his brief stint in charge he’s also guided England to wins home and away over Finland and a victory over Republic of Ireland.
He is still scheduled to take charge of the now crucial games away at Greece and home to Ireland as the Three Lions try to achieve promotion from their Nations League group.
Newly appointed boss Thomas Tuchel – who ironically was spoken to by Manchester United in the summer – will take over from the former Everton midfielder full-time in January.
Carsley will return to his previous role with England under-21s, after leading the Young Lions to Euro glory last year.
Ten Hag leaves Man Utd languishing in 14th place in the Premier League following his axe on Monday.
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.
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 also have been a popular and gettable option – but England got in there first.
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.
He was spotted leaving his home shortly after the sacking, ducking in his car to avoid the cameras.
United released a terse 87-word statement to confirm Ten Hag would be leaving the club, with his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy taking temporary charge.
It came after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham, with United guilty of missing a host of chances to wrap up three points.
