Mauricio Pochettino interested in leaving USMNT job for Manchester United

Coach’s contract has release clause of about $10m

United expected to sack Michael Carrick after awful start

US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino is interested in a move to Manchester United, multiple sources told the Guardian, with those same sources characterizing the interest as mutual.

United are expected to sack their head coach, Michael Carrick, after a disastrous start to their season which leaves them at risk of relegation from the Premier League, their worst opening to a campaign in four decades.

Securing Pochettino’s services is far from simple or inexpensive. The Argentinian’s contract contains a release clause in the neighborhood of $10m (£7.5m), multiple sources familiar with the deal told the Guardian this week, a figure that grows should United choose to retain Pochettino’s staff, including his longtime assistant and confidant Jesús Pérez, who has worked with Pochettino for 16 years. The Athletic first reported the details of Pochettino’s buyout.

Pochettino was brought on by the US in 2024 and guided the USMNT to a last-16 finish at the 2026 World Cup, by most accounts a disappointment. US Soccer brought him back through 2030, with both sides expressing a mutual belief and commitment towards not only brightening the fortunes of the US men but also overhauling the federation’s approach towards youth development.

“Every time we sign a contract, it’s to go to the last day of the contract,” Pochettino told reporters after his contract renewal. “If we sign a four-year contract, we need to think to arrive there. And we signed the contract because we really believe that we are going to be four years there. Because if not, it’s bad. If we don’t believe in that process, if we don’t believe in that journey, why sign [for] four years? Only to be sure that we are going to receive a salary at the end of the month? That is not nice. It’s not the way that we think. We really signed that contract because we really believe that we can arrive to the end.”

Pochettino, who has been linked with a host of high-profile club openings since his arrival in the United States, tempered those remarks by adding another: “In life, nothing is sure. Less in football.”

The USMNT are days from a pair of Concacaf Nations League matches against Haiti in Cincinnati and Miami, their first competitive fixtures of the 2030 qualifying cycle. Pochettino is scheduled to address reporters on Friday afternoon.