Manchester United are set to begin the process of appointing their next permanent manager who will take over from Ralf Rangnick in the summer.
Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino are the club's main targets for the position. The United fanbase agrees that they are suitable candidates to take the club forward in another rebuild at Old Trafford.
But there is always the possibility that both managers may choose not to make a move to Manchester. Ten Hag's stock is at an all-time high, and he will have the pick of the club's in Europe, so if a more appealing project approaches him given United's current problematic situation, he may choose to go elsewhere.
And despite the murmurings that Pochettino would move to United if the club came calling, he is still under contract at Paris Saint-Germain, which runs till 2023, so there is no guarantee that the French club will want to part ways with the manager nor that he will want to leave.
So United need a contingency plan. Luis Enrique has been suggested, but given Spain have the World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year, it is unlikely he would jump ship in the summer.
But another name that has been put forward is Julian Lopetegui, who is currently managing Sevilla. The MEN Sport understands that the Spanish manager's name was being put forward into the conversation even when the club was looking to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, due to his affiliation with super-agent Jorge Mendes. However, he is still a top manager, despite many fans dismissing the mere mention of his name.
Now let's address the Real Madrid-shaped elephant in the room. Yes, his spell at the Bernabeu would not inspire confidence in any fan that he would perform at the highest level.
But you must factor in that this was a Madrid side suffering from a post-Cristiano Ronaldo hangover that had not invested in replacing the void left by the Portuguese forward. Their major signings that year were Vinicius Jr and Thibaut Courtois, and despite the Brazilian's recent upturn in form during the 2021/22 season, he started very slowly in the Spanish capital.
His spell at the team lasted only three months, being dismissed in October. You could say he was never really given a chance to succeed, especially since fan opinion was against him due to the way he had joined Madrid from his former position as Spanish national team manager in a World Cup year. He was initially meant to join straight after the tournament, but the Spanish FA decided to sack him immediately.
But if you look at the job he did with both Spain and now with Sevilla, there is promise.
He was unbeaten as Spain manager in 20 games, with 14 wins and six draws which added further confusion as to why the Spanish FA decided to part ways just before a World Cup other than they had taken personal offence to the way the manager had agreed to leave the national team behind the scenes.
And as Sevilla manager, he is mounting an unlikely title challenge against the unstoppable force of his former club Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti.
Lopetegui's side currently sits four points behind Madrid in La Liga and boast the best defensive record in the league, having only conceded 16 goals in 22 games, with French defender Jules Kounde particularly standing out as a defender who has flourished under the Spaniard.
During his time in the south of Spain, he also won the Europa League in the 2019/20 season, beating Manchester United in the semi-final to progress.
Lopetegui's style of play is similar to the 4-3-3 that Rangnick is deploying currently at United, using two dynamic midfielders who contribute in defence and attack, attacking full-backs and a striker who acts as the focal point to draw defenders in to provide space for the wingers.
Overall, Ten Hag and Pochettino are still the two outstanding candidates for the job at Old Trafford. Still, if United did have to resort to an alternative, they could do a lot worse than the manager making waves in La Liga this season.
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