Manchester United could turn to Thomas Tuchel if they decide to axe the beleaguered Erik ten Hag, reports suggest.
Ten Hag is under mounting pressure as United boss with the club currently languishing in 13th place in the Premier League.
Questions are being asked of the Dutchman after a run of four games without a victory for the Red Devils.
United have only won two of their six league matches this season and were well beaten during their 3-0 home defeats by Liverpool and Tottenham.
And according to The I, United are expected to resume talks with Tuchel if they decide to fire Ten Hag.
The former Chelsea boss was said to be close to replacing Ten Hag in the summer, only for negotiations to reportedly break down over how much control Tuchel would have at Old Trafford and his financial package. Tuchel is available after leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season.
Gareth Southgate is said to remain an option among United’s leadership group, who also reportedly spoke to Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Frank before United’s FA Cup final victory over Manchester City in May.
Pochettino has since taken the USA job, while Frank’s Brentford went into the weekend sitting one place above United in the league.
Ruud van Nistelrooy is currently Ten Hag’s assistant and could take over on an interim basis if the club decide an immediate change is necessary. United face a huge match on Sunday when they travel to Aston Villa, who are fifth in the table.
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe insisted on Friday that the decision on Ten Hag’s future was not his to make.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” he told BBC Sport, when asked if he still had faith in the manager.
“I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
"But that team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [sporting director] Dan Ashworth - they only arrived in July.
"They’ve only been there… you can count it in weeks almost - they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.
"Our objective is very clear - we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously - that’s very clear. Work to be done.”
