According to the latest reports in Italy and England, Manchester United are ready to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and approach Antonio Conte, but have three concerns about the ex-Inter coach.
Solskjaer’s time would seem to be up at Old Trafford, with yesterday’s humiliating 5-0 Premier League home defeat to Liverpool the final straw.
Although Erik ten Hag of Ajax and former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane have also been mentioned, Conte remains the hot favourite.
Sky Sport Italia reporter Fabrizio Romano insists there has not been any contact yet between Manchester United and Conte, the reasons for that hesitation outlined in La Repubblica.
It seems United owners the Glazers have three major doubts around the decision to go for Conte, who is a free agent after leaving Scudetto-winners Inter by mutual consent in June.
The first concern is precisely that lack of longevity, because Conte rarely stays in one job for more than two seasons.
He lasted for three at Juventus, and then walked away one day into pre-season training in 2014, prompting a mad scramble to find replacement Max Allegri.
His time with the Italy squad, Chelsea and Inter also concluded after two years.
For a club that wanted to make Solskjaer their new Sir Alex Ferguson, Conte is considered somewhat flighty.
The second concern is Conte’s rapport with Cristiano Ronaldo, who as Juve learned, will not change his style of football for anyone.
It is the rest of the team that must adapt to CR7 and a high press from the forwards is something Conte tends to demand of his men.
The third doubt proposed by La Repubblica is that Solskjaer still has the protection of Manchester United legend Ferguson, so until he decides to pull the plug, the Norwegian has some hope of clinging on.
However, there is also one very big thing in Conte’s favour, namely his excellent rapport with Paul Pogba from their time together at Juventus.
The midfielder has still not agreed a new contract and will be a free agent this summer, but Conte’s arrival would probably convince him to pen an extension.
Man Utd. First step has to be the final decision on Solskjær by the board. Internal talks still ongoing over how to handle the crisis. 🔴 #MUFC
Antonio Conte would be prepared to talk with Man Utd about project, as revealed today – but there’s been still no official contact yet.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 25, 2021
Sir Alex doesn’t like Pobga who is a free agent anyway, while CR7 is signed for a couple of seasons, so I see CR7’s pick of Zidane over Conte
Ronaldo will Make Manunited change 3 Manager in 3 Season like he made Us Do…. He is a Crap….
Who cares what CR7 wants, I would be more interested to see how on Earth Utd would play 3-5-2
Cristiano is finished. No manager can help him except he goes to MLS or China.
G.O
Glazers Out.
That will make Utd great again.
Please hire Lord Allegri. He would have out smarted Klopp. Step 1 park the bus. Step 2 put clamps on the wheels. Step 3 pass the ball backwards. Step 4 pass the ball sideways. Finally he would bench Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho, using Juan Mata as a false number 9 as well as using Matic at right back.
United have the players for 3-5-2 but such a drastic change in the middle of the season will mean they might even miss on top four. I don’t see this happening.
i kinda see Zizou in the role since he had a good run with CR7 and maybe convince Pogba to a professional. Conte is a mercenary, he’d come win the league or some trophies in 2 years and leave. i dont think they wanna gamble with that.
zidane is most overrated coach on planets. he got lucky with megastar RM squad and won 3x UCL. he is good stabilizing the sunken ship but he not good building football squad. MU lack everything need to rebuild from scratch so zidane is not suited