Man Utd manager latest: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick contacted over interim manager position

Manchester United have begun talking to external candidates as they look for an interim manager to take charge until the end of the season, with three former Old Trafford favourites in the mix for a possible return after Ruben Amorim’s departure.

Sky Sports News has been told that Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer have both been spoken to, informally, about the possibility of them taking charge until the end of the season, alongside the current caretaker Darren Fletcher. It’s expected that other candidates will also be called before any decision is taken.

While the current focus is on finding an interim boss, the club haven’t ruled out the possibility of making a substantive appointment, if they decide the right coach is available. For that, United are considering a much wider pool.

Director of football Jason Wilcox is leading the process for United and following the initial, informal conversations with candidates, he is expected to conduct more formal interviews before making a recommendation in the coming days. Any final decision will be sanctioned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

No timescales have been set, but it’s thought the club’s bosses would like to have someone in place before the Manchester derby on January 17. Fletcher is expected to be in charge for the next two matches, against Burnley in the Premier League on Wednesday and Brighton in the FA Cup on Sunday.

Fletcher himself is a contender for the interim role, but United’s hierarchy have viewed him as a promising option for the future, because of his lack of first-team coaching experience right now. Nevertheless, we’ve been told Fletcher has always been close with United’s players, and the squad has been impressed by the early work he has done with them so far, with morale around the camp pretty high.

Wilcox has already had conversations with former Old Trafford favourites Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer about the interim head coach position, with both seen as good possibilities to come into a club they know well. Both are currently out of work and available without the need to pay compensation.

Solskjaer the favourite of interim options

Sky Sports News’ football correspondent Rob Dorsett:

“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be a huge story if he came back. He was sacked by Manchester United in November 2021. He’s incredibly popular with the Manchester United faithful.

“He loved it and he gave a very emotional farewell when he left. There were no bridges burnt. The impression I’m getting is that Solskjaer is the favourite.

“Jason Wilcox, who is leading this search, has spoken to him. Solskjaer has made it clear he would like to return to Old Trafford.”

Glasner, Howe speak on United links

As talks continue for an interim boss, among those linked with the permanent role are Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner and Newcastle’s Eddie Howe.

Glasner has six months left on his deal at Selhurst Park but shut down any talk of the position during a press conference ahead of Palace’s game against Aston Villa on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.

“I am Crystal Palace manager. It’s wasted time for you to ask any more questions. I don’t talk about any other club other than Crystal Palace,” he said.

Howe, meanwhile, also reiterated his commitment to Newcastle.

“I’m 100 per cent here, working as hard as I can, head down, ignoring all the stuff that you guys write, good or bad, because it’s irrelevant,” he said.

“It’s about today’s work and trying to prepare the team as well as we can for Leeds [on Wednesday], so that will never change from my perspective, my commitment to my work and my job.

“As long as I’m happy and able to express myself in the best way that I can to help the team, nothing will change.”

Asked if there was anything which could tempt him away from St James’ Park, Howe replied: “No, not at this current time.

“The most important thing for me is happiness in the role, happiness in the job, the relationships I have with the people around me. Now that’s not always been consistently good and things can change at any football club.

“But, at the moment, I am very happy.”

Fletcher: An honour to lead Man Utd

Current interim boss Fletcher gave his first news conference on Tuesday ahead of the midweek trip to Burnley.

After a busy 24 hours, the Manchester United U18s coach said: “It’s been surreal. It’s an amazing honour to lead a Manchester United team. It wasn’t in my wildest dreams that it was something that could potentially happen.

“To lead out the team is an amazing honour and something I’m proud to do. It’s not in the circumstances I expected it to happen so that doesn’t sit easy with me.

“I’ve got a job to do which is to lead the team tomorrow. I have great honour and pride in doing that.”

Asked whether he had any conversations with Wilcox and Omar Berrada, Fletcher replied: “I’ve had the conversations and the focus is on this game, then we’ll speak after [Burnley].

“It all happened very quickly on Monday morning. Had a game to prepare and a very quick turnaround, a training session to organise, speak to the players so the focus has been on the Burnley match.

“It’s important we give the Burnley match the respect and focus it needs to prepare the team in such a short space of time.”

Fletcher also has the strange circumstance of having his two sons – Tyler and Jack – training with the first-team squad. Midfielder Jack already made his first-team debut under Amorim.

When asked if they could be handed full debuts, Fletcher started with a joke: “I won’t be disclosing team information before the game!”

He then added: “They were in the training group on Monday because that was already arranged before I got there. They’ve been in the squad recently but we’ve got a couple of players back from injury, so we’ll assess that tomorrow because of the short turnaround from games.

“They’re in the periphery squad but whether they make the matchday squad, I don’t know.”

Man Utd’s next five fixtures

• Wednesday: Burnley (A) – Premier League, kick-off 8.15pm, live on Sky Sports
• Sunday: Brighton (H) – FA Cup third round, kick-off 4.30pm
• January 17: Man City (H) – Premier League, kick-off 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports
• January 25: Arsenal (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
• February 1: Fulham (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports