Premier League managers are evolving – and so is Manchester United’s most promising candidate | OneFootball

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The Manchester United leadership have already been giving more and more consideration to Michael Carrick for the summer, only for that shortlist to begin getting shorter.

Thomas Tuchel had been seen as one of the strongest candidates for the job, to the point that it became one of those notions well-connected industry figures were regularly repeating.

“It’s going to be Thomas for United.”

Such intrigue was only deepened by murmurs over the past two weeks that the Football Association were considering another pitch to Pep Guardiola, to take over England for Euro 2028.

That won’t happen now, unless the 2026 World Cup is a disaster.

If the prospect of such a failure makes it surprising that national federations still offer new contracts before tournaments have even taken place, it is not exactly a shock that Tuchel has committed. He already had reservations about United, and he is greatly enjoying himself in his current role. England, “the impossible job”, has turned into the German’s perfect job. Most tellingly, he has a great chance of winning two tournaments, both carrying immense emotional symbolism. One could be England’s second World Cup, 60 years after their first. The other could be a first European Championship, and at home.

Even more enticingly, despite that emotional weight, the job comes with virtually none of the pressure it once did. It barely compares to a major club role any more, at least outside tournaments.

You can sense that when you see Tuchel whizzing around central London on a Lime bike.

Why wouldn’t he continue with this healthier work–life balance, especially once he looks at some of his counterparts?

This has been another bad week for managers, aside from the financial compensation. Another two went in the space of 16 hours, taking it to nine in the Premier League this season. That is still five short of the 2022–23 “record” of 14, but you would not count on it staying that way. Sean Dyche had his boyhood Nottingham Forest dream crushed, albeit amid some mundane football. Thomas Frank, long considered one of the few modern coaches as charismatic as Tuchel, cut a beaten figure by the end of a trying stint at Spurs.

The latter now have a tricky decision and are understood to be going back and forth in meetings about what to do next, in a market that offers fewer guarantees than ever before.

That may instead mean a market that proves advantageous to formative coaches such as Carrick.

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