It remains unclear if Manchester United will truly fire Erik ten Hag at the end of the season, because what one seemed like a foregone conclusion is now an uncertainty due to the whims of the rumor mill and the potential for INEOS to see larger problems with the team than the former Ajax coach.
Although injuries are, to an extent, a legitimate excuse to protect ten Hag, who received strong interest from Bayern Munich as a Thomas Tuchel replacement, they do not absolve him of every ill.
Manchester United are staring down a potential season without any European football and their worst finish of the Premier League era.
Meanwhile, they are watching the very star ten Hag antagonized the most, winger Jadon Sancho, light it up on the road to reaching a Champions League Final with a Dortmund side that looked utterly lost before his return.
If Manchester United were to fire Erik ten Hag, i sport’s Peter Hall reports that Thomas Tuchel would be the main candidate to replace him with Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim and former Chelsea and Brighton manager Graham Potter being the other options.
Amorim was heavily linked to the Liverpool job before the Reds ultimately balked at the up-and-coming manager for an even better up-and-coming manager in Feyenoord’s Arne Slot.
Potter’s reputation took a hit because of his failures at Chelsea, but the Blues haven’t been much better off with a bigger name in Mauricio Pochettino. Furthermore, Potter was one of the most coveted up-and-coming coaches at Brighton in his own right.
While Amorim and Potter aren’t bad options, Tuchel, as a former Champions League winner with Chelsea, is clearly the most highly prized of them and brings a lot more buzz than anyone else – certainly more buzz than keeping ten Hag around as coach.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.