Craig Burley urges Manchester United to appoint Mauricio Pochettino

ESPN FC pundit Craig Burley has said that Manchester United should appoint Mauricio Pochettino over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the permanent head coach of the club. The Red Devils were struggling to keep up with the top four places when Jose Mourinho was sacked in December but Ole has managed to bring them within two points off the same while working in an interim role.

Despite this, Burley believes Pochettino is the no-brainer option for the Red Devils in the summer, given they can trust the Argentine’s experience to work with the handsome transfer budget while competing for the Premier League crown, he said: “If it wasn’t Manchester United and there was another club to be managed, and there was a choice between Solskjaer and Pochettino, it’s not even close – it’s Pochettino. So why should it be different because it’s his former club? Over a short period at the moment he’s done a great job, but who would you prefer to try and peg back Klopp and Guardiola with a big budget? I think Pochettino would be the answer with a big budget.”

United had remained unbeaten in the Premier League under Ole until earlier this month where they suffered to a 2-0 defeat on the road to Arsenal. Since then, they have suffered another successive defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup quarter-final and this has presented doubts whether Ole remains the right man for the permanent role.

According to The Sun, United are likely to wait until the summer before making the decision and it appears that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward fancies the prospect of appointing Pochettino for the vacancy. Still, Pochettino won’t come on the cheap and United would have to pay a compensation sum of around £32m to lure the Argentine from Spurs during the summer.