Manchester United top pick for next manager could cause Pep Guardiola a Man City headache

Manchester United could finally be properly setting their sights on bringing Mauricio Pochettino to the club in the summer.

United have been linked on and off with the Argentine for years, but either failed to act or moved too late when trying to tempt the ex-Southampton and Tottenham manager north.

Pochettino then took over at Paris Saint-Germain just over a year ago, following his sacking from Spurs, and guided the expensively-assembled group of megastars to the Champions League semi-finals, where they were outclassed over two legs by Manchester City.

However, they did suffer the embarrassment of ceding Ligue 1 to Lille and, even since the arrival of compatriot Lionel Messi, all does not appear to be entirely well for Pochettino in the French capital.

Against that backdrop, the Manchester Evening News this week reported that Pochettino is now the number-one choice in the United dressing room to replace Ralf Rangnick at the end of this season and become Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's long-term successor.

Pochettino has, unsurprisingly, been unable to mould a team full of ego and individualists into something resembling a coherent structure. Friday's last-gasp win over Rennes did little to shake the sense that he will leave at the end of the current campaign. The manner of any failure against Real Madrid in the last-16 of the Champions League could theoretically hasten any departure.

In theory, the presence of Pochettino on the United bench should give City cause for concern, considering he got the better of Pep Guardiola on some notable occasions when in charge of Spurs.

When both were in the Premier League at the same time — 2016 to 2019 — Guardiola beat Pochettino in five of eight games. However, Pochettino prevailed