Mauricio Pochettino's representatives are reportedly discussing personal terms with Manchester United this week, paving the way for him to exit his current post as the U.S. men's national team head coach after two years in the job.
Though the deal is progressing in a favorable direction for United, several formalities still need to be completed. The Red Devils have not yet fired head coach Michael Carrick, who led a training session Tuesday as news began to trickle out about his employers lining up his successor. Additionally, United have not reached out to U.S. Soccer yet to activate Pochettino's buyout clause, according to The Athletic. The exit clause is reportedly set at $10 million but only covers Pochettino; United would have to compensate U.S. Soccer further to hire Pochettino's coaching staff, who he has worked with for the entirety of his decades-long career.
For the USMNT, the timing is awkward. Though the next World Cup is still four years away, Pochettino signed a new four-year deal in August and is currently with the team at U.S. Soccer's national training center in the suburbs of Atlanta. The USMNT are preparing for the two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti, the first of which will take place on Saturday at Miami's Nu Stadium while the second will be on Tuesday at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium.
Defender Antonee Robinson addressed the reports on Tuesday, admitting that this is not the first time the players have been put in this situation during Pochettino's tenure.
"That news kind of got sprung on us, like the rest of the world, I'd say," Robinson said. "Similar things happened in the past, happened at the World Cup where huge teams lose their manager and they start looking at possible candidates and for us to have a manager who's linked with those sorts of jobs means we're very lucky to work with a top-level manager but it never seems to leak into the work we do, whether it's the World Cup or whether it's going to be this camp."
Pochettino is the first USMNT head coach with genuine international appeal, U.S. Soccer more often than not picking from a domestic talent pool in the team's modern history. His tenure has reflected just that – he became the federation's highest-paid coach ever when he initially joined in 2024, the salary and the scope of his role only increasing in his recent contract extension. U.S. Soccer surprisingly plucked him out of the European club game, where he had spent the entirety of his coaching career beforehand, making a name for himself at Tottenham Hotspur before later stops at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. Naturally, clubs of that ilk never lost interest and over the course of his time with the USMNT, he was linked to a handful of jobs. The most notable approach came from AC Milan, who were considering the move in the build-up to the World Cup but ultimately hired ex-Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim instead.
"Even when we first met a couple summers ago, there were lots of other people interested in having Mauricio and team join," U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson said in May. "He had standing offers from other places to come. He wanted to be here. He's a big believer in what we're doing at U.S. Soccer. He's a big believer in soccer in America and he's a big believer in this men's team and so, throughout this entire process, when you have top-class talent, whether it's salespeople, whether it's marketing people or whether it's coaches, other organizations want them and throughout this, Mauricio and team have been incredibly transparent. They've been great partners and are, of course, excited about the summer … There's been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported and so they've been great about that."
Pochettino has also been open about his desire to return to the Premier League during his stint with the USMNT, something the move to United would accomplish.
United are currently in the relegation zone with one win in 10 games, the least of any team in the Premier League this season.
