Mauricio Pochettino's Journey: The Manchester United Misses

For years it felt like a storyline football was determined to complete: Mauricio Pochettino, in the home dugout at Old Trafford, finally handed the keys to Manchester United. Twice he stood on the brink. Twice the club swerved away. Now, with the Argentine rebuilding his reputation on the World Cup stage with the United States, that old sense of inevitability has started to fade.

“Ideal scenario.” Those were his words to Four Four Two last month as he prepared to lead the US through a World Cup on home soil. United, he said, had always shown interest. The timing, the circumstances, the politics? Never quite right.

The one that got away – twice

The first near-miss came in 2018/19. Pochettino, then at Tottenham, was widely viewed as the long-term answer for United. The club had turned to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as a caretaker, a sentimental stop-gap after Jose Mourinho’s departure. The plan was simple: Solskjaer would steady the ship, Pochettino would take over in the summer.

Then Solskjaer started winning. And kept winning.

Six victories on the spin to open his interim reign, capped by a statement result: a win away at Tottenham in mid-January. That afternoon did more than swing a game; it swung a decision. The momentum behind Pochettino’s candidacy began to ebb.

When United produced that extraordinary comeback in Paris against PSG in March, the board stopped looking elsewhere. Solskjaer was given the job permanently. The rest of the season unravelled, United stumbled, and Tottenham – with Pochettino still in charge – surged all the way to the Champions League final. By the time Spurs eventually parted ways with him a few months later, the Old Trafford door that had once stood ajar had quietly closed.

The second sliding door moment arrived in 2022. Pochettino was at PSG, chasing the Ligue 1 title in what was, by Parisian standards, a flat and unsatisfying tenure. United, again in transition, again relying on an interim in Ralf Rangnick, had narrowed their search to a two-man race: Pochettino versus Erik ten Hag.

This time, the narrative suggested United had picked the wrong horse. Football director John Murtough was said to have been impressed by Ten Hag in talks. Pochettino, though, offers a different angle.

“I was under contract at PSG,” he explained. After that Champions League exit to Real Madrid, his remit was clear: lock down the league title. United, he said, were desperate to move quickly, to announce a new manager before the season ended because the situation had become “unsustainable”. Ajax, by contrast, gave Ten Hag the flexibility to negotiate. Pochettino never had that luxury.

United chose Ten Hag. The relationship soured quickly. And again, Pochettino watched from the outside.

Ferguson’s favourite who never arrived

Inside Old Trafford, one influential voice always pushed his case. Sir Alex Ferguson admired Pochettino from the moment his Southampton side went toe-to-toe with the elite. The Scot liked what he saw so much he asked for Pochettino’s number and arranged a dinner. That kind of endorsement usually shifts the ground under a manager’s feet.

Yet the years after his Tottenham exit were not kind to Pochettino’s image at the very top level. The PSG spell felt underwhelming. The Chelsea stint, chaotic in real time, now looks more respectable as the club continues to flounder without him. His reputation never collapsed, but it frayed.

The World Cup is stitching it back together.

Pochettino’s US reboot

This United States team does not play like a traditional host nation swept along by emotion. It plays like a Pochettino club side. Aggressive. Intense. Relentless without the ball. Their tempo has stood out in a tournament where many sides have drifted through group games. No other nation has quite matched their blend of energy and organisation.

The effect is obvious. Momentum is building around the hosts. If they sustain this level, a run to at least the quarter-finals feels entirely realistic. For Pochettino, that kind of campaign on American soil is pure gold. It drags his name straight back into the conversation for the biggest European jobs.

His contract with the US runs only to the end of this tournament. He has been careful with his words, saying this week he is “open” to extending. But emotionally, strategically, this feels like a natural full stop. Coaching the national team through a World Cup at home is a peak experience. The Gold Cup will not carry the same weight or glamour.

Walk away now, and he re-enters the market with his stock replenished, his football fresh in the minds of Europe’s power brokers.

United move on – again

By then, though, Manchester United are likely to be looking elsewhere. They already have. Michael Carrick, handed a two-year contract after an impressive surge in the second half of last season, looks a smart, coherent appointment. He has the club’s backing and a clear runway.

If Carrick had stumbled, if United had dithered, if they had waited for the World Cup to unfold, Pochettino’s name would inevitably have resurfaced. Instead, the club has chosen its path before the tournament can reshape the managerial market.

So the story that once felt pre-written now appears destined to remain unwritten. Pochettino is reminding Europe that he still belongs at the top table, that his methods still translate, that his teams can still burn with intensity on the biggest stage.

He may well land another superclub job off the back of this World Cup. It just looks less and less likely that the job will be at Old Trafford.