It’s been a tricky start to Michael Carrick‘s first full season in charge at Manchester United, with the recently appointed permanent head coach struggling to replicate the kind of form his side produced during his interim spell.
With just one win from the opening five games, United are languishing in the bottom half of the table and are well behind the chasing pack at the top end of the Premier League.
The turbulent start has led to question marks over Carrick’s ability to produce at the top level on a consistent basis, and the rumour mill is already in overdrive regarding possible replacements.
Former Premier League star hotly linked
A raft of names have been touted to take over should INEOS decide to pull the trigger, with a Premier League and World Cup winner emerging as a potential target.
As reported by Caught Offside, Cesc Fabregas is considered a “serious option” by the United hierarchy, who have been impressed by the job he is doing on the continent.
Fabregas is currently in charge of Serie A side Como, whose recent rise in Italian football has caught the eye of many since their takeover in 2019.
Como has proved to be the perfect place for Fabregas to cut his teeth on the touchline, and the Spaniard has managed to produce an exciting brand of football and deliver a fine fourth place finish last season.
Audition looming
That fourth place finish meant Como would be competing in the Champions League in this campaign, and ironically the Italians will welcome Carrick’s United to their stuninng home in the coming weeks.
United are due to travel to the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on October 21 for a fixture that could take on extra importance given the emerging links.
Fabregas is already touted as one of the brightest young managers in the game, but a confident performance and good result against United would certainly cement that thought and inch him even closer to a top job.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea man certainly had the pedigree as a player to handle life at the top level, and his temperament on the touchline as well as his tactical nous has seen his stock rise considerably over the last 12 months.
Should United’s form not improve over the handful of games in between that clash, Carrick will be under intense pressure and a loss in Italy could prove to be the last straw, with a new man potentially ready and waiting.
However, Carrick will expect to travel to Italy in a better mood than he is currently in, with important but winnable games in the Premier League sandwiching a huge trip to Atletico Madrid before the Como test.
United entertain Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday in what is the first game back from the international break and is billed as a must-win for both sides, whose managers are under pressure heading into the encounter after respective slow starts to the campaign.
Featured image by Marco Luzzani via Getty Images
