Top managerial target has ‘already turned down’ Man Utd

Mauricio Pochettino has rejected the chance to manage Man Utd as he wants to wait for the Real Madrid job, according to reports.

United’s search for their next boss is expected to ramp up in the coming weeks following the arrival of Richard Arnold as chief executive.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Pochettino and Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag have been the favourites to land the job for a while now, while former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is also reportedly in the frame.

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Former Tottenham boss Pochettino has been linked with the manager’s job at Old Trafford over the last few years but his appointment has never materialised.

When Jose Mourinho was sacked in December 2018 the rumours were at an all-time high but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer impressed so much as interim boss that the Man Utd hierarchy gave the Norwegian the job.

Pochettino’s name cropped up during a number of shaky periods under Solskjaer but the Argentinian was unavailable when they eventually sacked their former striker earlier this season.

And now Spanish newspaper Sport (via Sport Witness) insist that Man Utd are still ‘interested in him’ but that Pochettino has ‘already turned down’ the Premier League club as he ‘waits for Real Madrid’.

There have been rumours recently that pressure is growing on Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu with the Italian likely to lose his job if he fails to win silverware this season.

Pochettino is ‘very attentive’ to the situation at Real Madrid –  who put in a poor performance in the first leg of their Champions League clash against PSG – but he also knows he must win trophies to stay in Paris past the end of the season.

Meanwhile, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson recently said that he