Gareth Southgate is the ideal candidate for Man Utd: England boss' focus on young players and team values can revitalise Red Devils

If Southgate were to accept the offer to take charge at United, he would be working with key figures who he knows well and with whom there is a huge level of mutual respect. The England manager has known United's likely next sporting director Dan Ashworth for more than a decade, dating back to their time together at England's headquarters.

Ashworth was appointed as England's director of elite development in 2013, the same time Southgate had been named head coach of the Under-21 team. Working in tandem with Southgate and head of development teams Matt Crocker, Ashworth helped draft the England DNA document, which became the blueprint for a lot of success that the men's and women's team would go on to have.

Southgate praised Ashworth for the role he had played in England reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018, while Ashworth, who has agreed to work at United but has been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle, has described Southgate as "an exceptional leader“ and praised his people skills.

"He’s got a really good understanding of getting the best out of the players and staff," he said. "So what’s ended up happening is that Gareth has brought together a way of working for the players and the staff that means it is one big group of people."

Southgate has also got a lot in common with INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, who was in close contact with the FA in the aftermath of the sacking of Sam Allardyce. Brailsford, who had huge success with Team Sky and British Cycling, was invited to become part of the FA's technical advisory board.

Brailsford and Southgate also connected at the P8 Leaders conferences, where the mastermind of Team Sky's multiple Tour de France wins was a regular speaker.

“Gareth Southgate was very interested in Dave’s advice on how you keep everyone in a World Cup squad motivated, including those who aren’t playing," Sir Michael Barber told The Athletic. "Team Sky had almost 30 riders, but only nine, and then it was eight, of them could ride the Tour. His real skill was making sure everyone in the team felt like they were contributing to the goal of winning the race. Gareth lapped it up and took detailed notes."

Brailsford and Southgate share a belief that you can learn a lot from other sports. The England manager and his staff have borrowed ideas from the NFL and NBA, incorporating strategies to improve set-piece routines and game management. Southgate explained in 2018: "We can try different things that work. If you keep always doing what you've always done, you get the same results."

Brailsford expanded his portfolio to work on the sub-two-hour marathon with INEOS, while also dipping his toes into Formula One and sailing before taking a keen interest in football. According to The Mirror, Brailsford and Southgate have watched a Super Bowl together and maintain contact in a Whatsapp group featuring other guests at the P8 events.

Southgate's interest in what Brailsford had to say on how to keep players who did not always play interested is intriguing, as many United managers have struggled to foster any sense of team unity in the 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson departed.

Ten Hag has tried harder than most, taking a ruthless approach when Cristiano Ronaldo left a match early and banishing Jadon Sancho from the squad when he refused to apologise for calling the manager out on social media. "Strict lines is what the club asked me because there was no good culture before I entered last season," the Dutchman explained in September.

However, the manager's decision to publicly question Sancho's commitment has been criticised in some quarters, and it certainly created a messy image of the club from the outside. It is difficult to imagine Southgate dealing with a similar situation in the same way.

Ten Hag has tried to impose a top-down regime of discipline and rigorous physical training, but with mixed results, and not just on the pitch. Marcus Rashford's big night out in Belfast just hours before a training session painted a picture of a squad that does not fully respect the manager, despite his efforts.

He is far from the only United manager to struggle with a dressing room lacking in characters. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that a number of players refused to be captain for certain matches and did not have the guts to tell the manager themselves. He also claimed some players stopped running for him in his final match in charge against Watford.

Southgate could be the ideal person to tackle United's bad habits. Before he became England coach in 2016, the team was beset with similar problems to those that have plagued United of late. But he has taken a different approach to Ten Hag, trying to bring players with him rather than imposing his ideas on them.

He has overseen a cultural reset and created a far happier camp than before. Gone are the club divisions that were rife during the so-called 'Golden Generation' team of the 2006 World Cup and other England sides of the past. He has replaced it with a culture of unity.

"He's created an environment where they all enjoy going," former England U20s coach Paul Simpson told The Mirror. "We've got away from a few years ago where it seemed players didn't want to play for the national team. I wasn't there for it, but they talk about little cliques and a bad feeling between the groups and stuff like that, that was not something I ever saw in my time."

Another area in which Southgate excels is communication. The England manager has become a picture of calm in the face of relentless media pressure and has articulately explained his point of view in difficult situations, including when his team were criticised by members of the British government for taking a knee.

Ten Hag, to put it kindly, is not the greatest communicator. The fact he is operating in a second language does not help, but on occasion he has come across as deluded, such as when he recently talked about a penalty his side were not awarded against Arsenal six months ago.

While dealing with the media is not nearly as important as dealing with your players and staff, but it is part of the demands of the job and if handled badly, it can further drag a manager down. Southgate has become a master at operating with the media and would be well-equipped with the attention on him at United.

Southgate's greatest relationship though has been the one he has fostered with his players. He has managed the development of young stars particularly well, picking the right time to play Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden, to name just a few.

He has harnessed the experience of the likes of Harry Kane and Harry Maguire, but the soul of his team, from the very beginning, has been young players. Given United's tradition of promoting youngsters from the academy, that makes him a very good fit for the Old Trafford dugout.

Wayne Rooney described Southgate as "fearless" when talking about how he has used young players. “Because a lot of the other managers didn't really give the youth the opportunity to express themselves and come into the team and have an impact," he said. "In fairness to Gareth, he's tried to do that and done that, bringing a lot of young players through. Giving them experience but also belief they can perform well and be successful for their country. Of the six managers I played for, while there were a few individual young players, to bring so many through as a group and have that trust in them, he deserves a lot of credit."

There will always be people who say that Southgate should have achieved more with England, given the high standards the national team is held to by fans and especially the media. But the team have never had as much sustained success as under him.

He took England to a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years and a first major final in 55 years. His team were only knocked out of the last World Cup by France after going toe-to-toe with the holders and being only a missed Harry Kane penalty from taking them to extra-time.

More success is on the horizon this summer in Germany, where England will be favourites to win the European Championship. Time will tell if that status is justified, but the fact that they are the team everyone expects to triumph shows just how far Southgate has taken England.

But after eight years in international management, the time is ripe for him to return to club football. He had just one crack at club management with Middlesbrough, helping them achieve mid-table finishes in two Premier League seasons before being relegated in 2009. And he seems to fancy righting his previous record, if a December interview with Sky Sports is anything to go by.

“I was 35 years old when I managed in the Premier League. Everybody would talk about Middlesbrough. ‘Oh, he got Middlesbrough relegated’. Well, yeah, in the third year, we got relegated. But I had three years of Premier League management," he said.

“There isn’t a job in world football that would intimidate or daunt you, having lived this one, frankly. You’re not going to have any higher profile, you’re not going to have any greater pressure, you’re not going to have any more complex issues.”

“I remember talking to Jose Mourinho when he was at Man United and he said: ‘you know, when you’ve done the role you’re in now, you’ll be able to do anything’. Really? I thought that was probably right, but seven years into it, it’s definitely right.”

So why not follow Mourinho's path and go to United? Many more experienced managers have stepped into the Old Trafford dugout and not lived up to expectations, but they didn't have the structure that INEOS are building. That structure might not suit every coaching profile, but it certainly would suit Southgate.

Given what he has achieved with England from a similarly low starting point, it is certainly worth giving him a shot to replicate his success at another sleeping giant.