Manchester United hires Pochettino on a deal that runs until 2029

Manchester United hired Mauricio Pochettino as head coach on Friday, a day after firing Michael Carrick, and paid about $10 million to release the 54-year-old Argentine from his job running the U.S. men's national team.

Pochettino inherits a club that is 18th in the Premier League with one league win this season, ESPN reported. Carrick was dismissed 15 games into the two-year contract he signed in May, after what the Guardian described as United's worst start to a season in four decades. The team has won one of its past 11 games.

Pochettino signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, and the club said he will become head coach from Nov. 18. The Manchester Evening News reported that the deal runs until 2029 and that his release terms were agreed with U.S. Soccer. An earlier report on this site on Nov. 10 said United had made him its top target.

United Chief Executive Omar Berrada told U.S. Soccer on Wednesday that the club was prepared to trigger the release clause in Pochettino's contract, according to ESPN, which cited sources saying it was his representatives who first pointed United to the clause. He was the only candidate the club spoke to directly. Minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family, the majority owners, approved the choice, ESPN said.

The Guardian reported that United paid an additional fee to bring Pochettino's longtime assistants with him. The club had shown interest in former Newcastle manager Eddie Howe and in Julian Nagelsmann, but held talks only with Pochettino, the newspaper said.

United had considered Pochettino before. Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox interviewed him in May 2024, shortly after he left Chelsea, but United stayed with Erik ten Hag, ESPN reported. The Manchester Evening News said he had also been considered in 2019, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the job, and in 2022, when ten Hag beat him to it.

In its statement, Manchester United pointed to his high-intensity, attacking style and his record of developing players. The club cited a club-record Premier League points total at Southampton in 2014 and four straight Champions League qualifications at Tottenham Hotspur, where he reached the 2019 final. At Paris Saint-Germain he won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions before moving to Chelsea in 2023.

Pochettino leaves the U.S. job with 21 wins, 12 losses and two draws in 35 matches, U.S. Soccer said. Hired in September 2024, he took the team to the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup final and to the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup on home soil, where it won a knockout game for the first time since 2002. His three victories at that tournament are the most by any U.S. men's coach at a World Cup.

The World Cup run ended with a 4-1 defeat by Belgium in the round of 16, the Guardian noted. Pochettino had agreed to a new four-year contract with the federation in August. During his tenure, 75 players earned at least one senior cap.

In the federation's release, Pochettino said: "The opportunity to represent the USA crest was one of the greatest honors of my career." U.S. Soccer Chief Executive JT Batson said Pochettino "has left a lasting mark on U.S. Soccer through his leadership, professionalism and commitment to our players and culture".

Pochettino and his staff will still coach the U.S. in two Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal games against Haiti, on Nov. 14 and Nov. 17. Steve Cherundolo, the under-23 coach, will run the senior team's December camp with a roster drawn mostly from Major League Soccer. Batson and Chief Operating Officer Dan Helfrich will lead the search for a permanent successor, joined by Emma Hayes and Oguchi Onyewu, the federation said.

After the Haiti games, Pochettino travels to Manchester. His first match in charge of United is against Liverpool at Anfield on Nov. 22. More coverage is on the Sports page.