'It's very strange' - Man Utd backed to finally sign boyhood fan Cole Palmer if they lure Chelsea star's former manager Mauricio Pochettino away from the USMNT

Amid ongoing struggles for consistency on and off the field, Portuguese coach Amorim was relieved of his duties on January 5. Darren Fletcher was initially placed in caretaker charge of first-team affairs, with those reins now being passed to interim boss Michael Carrick.

Longer-term plans will be mapped out in the summer. United have already been linked with the likes of Oliver Glasner, Thomas Tuchel, Gareth Southgate and Luis Enrique. They are, however, being advised to make a play for another man that knows all about life in the Premier League from his stints in charge of Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea.

Pochettino is readying the United States for a home World Cup at present, but will see his contract there expire after a bid for global glory has been taken in. It could be that he receives an approach from Old Trafford, having registered on that radar before, and looks to bring a familiar face with him - with Wythenshawe native Palmer, who is a United supporter, having moved to Stamford Bridge while Pochettino was calling the shots in west London.

Rene Meulensteen, who once worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson in Manchester, has told Casinostugan: “Could Mauricio Pochettino convince Cole Palmer to come to Manchester United? Only if Chelsea would be willing to let him go. Palmer is a fantastic player and I think he would suit Manchester United really well and the way they should be playing because he is a difference maker. That’s always what you want.

“You’d need to think about how he’s going to fit in because on that right-hand side, where Cole is playing to come into the pocket, obviously you can have Amad Diallo there too or [Bryan] Mbeumo. Bruno [Fernandes] operates in the middle.

“Palmer was a boyhood United fan and it’s actually too strange for words that United never picked up on it and made sure that they sounded him out about his plans if he ever were to leave City. It's very strange that it never happened, in my opinion.”

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Meulensteen has also been casting an eye over some of the other high-profile coaches to have been linked with United, with Barcelona and Real Madrid legends Xavi and Zinedine Zidane forming part of that conversation.

Dutchman Meulensteen added: “Zinedine Zidane is an interesting one because he's now out of job for quite some time. He played for Real Madrid. He knows the club. He speaks the language. I don’t think he speaks English very well. That wouldn’t help.

“He is used to playing with all the best players available as Real Madrid manager and that is not necessarily the case at Manchester United in all the positions so that would be a question mark.

“He would have different demands and I don't think that Manchester United at this moment in time would be able to fulfil those demands. That is one of the reasons why they probably end up picking a manager that is prepared to come in and to prepare to work with the current squad and limited resources to do much else.

“Xavi wouldn’t necessarily be a risk because we’ve seen all the managers that have come into the Premier League and done really, really well in Glasner and [Andoni] Iraola. They didn’t have any Premier League experience but they also had a very clear idea of how they wanted to play to get that message across to their players and put in the work on the training pitch.”

United are likely to favour experience of English football when making their next appointment, which would put Xavi and Zidane out of the running. There also appears to be little chance of them prising Palmer away from Chelsea any time soon - with the 2025-26 campaign seeing the Red Devils hit a 111-year low when it comes to games played in a single trophy-hunting campaign.