Manchester United appoint Mauricio Pochettino as struggling club turns to former Spurs boss in a bid to revive fortunes

Manchester United have appointed Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach, handing the Argentine the task of reviving a club in the Premier League relegation zone and attempting to arrest its prolonged decline. Pochettino will leave his role with the United States national team to take charge at Old Trafford.

The 54-year-old's appointment comes just three months after he agreed a new contract with US Soccer that was to keep him in charge of the national team until 2030.

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Pochettino will take over from Michael Carrick, who was dismissed on Thursday after United's poor start to the Premier League season. The club have managed just one win, five draws and four defeats in their opening 10 league matches, leaving them 18th in the 20-team standings and facing the prospect of a relegation battle.

Pochettino's immediate challenge will be to lift a struggling United side out of the relegation zone and restore consistency to a team that has endured repeated managerial changes since Ferguson's departure. His first task will be to make an impact quickly, with the trip to Liverpool offering an early test of the scale of the rebuilding job at Old Trafford.

The Argentine is expected to begin his United tenure with a daunting trip to Liverpool on November 22. His appointment makes him the club's eighth permanent head coach or manager since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, underlining the instability that has followed the end of the legendary Scotsman's reign.

Pochettino arrives with considerable experience of English football, having managed Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the Premier League. His most successful spell came at Tottenham, where he established the club as a regular challenger near the top of the table, guided them to the 2015 League Cup final and led them to the 2019 Champions League final, which they lost to Liverpool.

Under Pochettino, Tottenham finished third in the 2015-16 Premier League season and runners-up in 2016-17, their best finish in the competition's history. He left the north London club in November 2019 before taking charge of Paris Saint-Germain in January 2021.

At PSG, Pochettino won the Ligue 1 title, the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions. He returned to England to manage Chelsea for the 2023-24 season, guiding the club to sixth place and a League Cup final before leaving by mutual agreement in May 2024.

He took charge of the US men's national team in September 2024 and was given the responsibility of preparing the side for the 2026 World Cup. In August 2026, US Soccer extended his contract through 2030, making his move to Manchester United a significant change of direction so soon after that agreement.