Former centre-back Rio Ferdinand believes Paris Saint-Germain head coach Mauricio Pochettino would "thrive and flourish" if given an interview for the Manchester United job.
The Argentine remains a key figure in the race to become the club's next permanent manager despite Ajax chief Erik ten Hag — who was recently interviewed for the role, as revealed by the Manchester Evening News — being the club's preferred candidate. The Dutchman is the favourite to replace Ralf Rangnick and lead United's next chapter.
Pochettino, however, remains a frontrunner in the race to occupy the Old Trafford managerial hot-seat next season. He is understood to remain keen on the job and United wanted to appoint him last November as an immediate successor for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
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A large number of United supporters have raised concerns about Pochettino taking charge because of his struggles in the French capital, with them highlighting that he has struggled to get the best out of a team that boasts the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. However, Ferdinand, who recently met Pochettino for a BT Sport feature, believes he would make a telling impression on those tasked with sourcing United's next boss.
Ferdinand told Vibe with Five : "I spent a bit of time with him and he really impressed me as a person. Him and his staff are men of detail and I would see him thrive and really flourish in an interview, if they are going to do the interview process.
"I think he would impress the hierarchy and decision makers at Old Trafford if they had him in front of them. He certainly impressed me. We had good football conversations and he is a good football man.
"His time at Spurs, by the way, I always said that he never won anything. But if you look at the budget he had compared to everybody else, his budget was low; he was working on a shoestring budget almost, compared to other people at that time.
"They were overachieving, bearing in mind what they were spending. I liked the team, and the Southampton team, because they were aggressive and were on the front foot, but by the end of his tenure at Spurs it wasn't that same team."
While United supporters have expressed doubts about whether or not Pochettino would be the right choice for the job because of his struggles at PSG, Ferdinand has responded those worries. He has outlined how no manager in recent years has managed to get them firing in Europe, meaning Pochettino is not alone.
He added: "What manager has got them going? What manager has been able to get the superstars going in the latter stages of that tournament, the Champions League?
"They haven't, they've not been able to get it done. So he is not on his own. [Thomas] Tuchel didn't get it done."
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