Thomas Tuchel will snub any potential job offer from Manchester United as alternatives to Erik ten Hag continue to dwindle.
i understands the German manager favours taking a break from coaching after a tumultuous season at Bayern Munich, following a meeting with United’s new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco last week.
Tuchel outlined how he could help transform the Red Devils during the informal discussion, sources said, including plans to get the best out of Jadon Sancho after his loan spell at Borussia Dortmund ended.
But the former Chelsea boss has since decided to take a break from football altogether, as Ratcliffe and Ineos continue to wrangle over whether to keep Ten Hag for another season.
Where does this leave Ten Hag?
Allowing the Dutchman a third campaign is now much more likely, given that another big name on their list of potential replacements is out of the running.
Sticking by Ten Hag is also understood to be more appealing as Ineos’s current top pick as United boss, Gareth Southgate, is very much unavailable.
As i reported on Friday, the head of sport, Sir Dave Brailsford, and incoming sporting director Dan Ashworth are both keen to bring in Southgate as the latest cog in their Old Trafford revolution, even if that means biding their time.
If the decision is made to bring Ten Hag’s tenure to what he feels would be a premature end in the coming weeks, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank and Roberto De Zerbi are the only names left on the Ineos shortlist who are still available. Graham Potter is another name to be linked, but his representatives are understood not to have been contacted.
De Zerbi emerged as a potential frontrunner after talks with his representatives, and when Chelsea appointed Enzo Maresca. But part of the reason Ineos is struggling to make a definitive call is that it has yet to be suitably impressed by any candidate, especially given the aim to bring in Southgate.
With the end-of-season review going into a third week, supporters are frustrated at what they see as the poor treatment of Ten Hag since the FA Cup final victory last month.
The large majority of fans want him to be given more time, which he could still get now that Tuchel is out of the picture and Kieran McKenna is committed to Ipswich.
Sancho’s future is going to be high on the agenda whoever is in the hotseat. Tuchel felt the forward, who is described as possessing an “irreparable” relationship with Ten Hag, could still have a United future but the club have alternative plans.
What does this mean for Sancho?
With money needed to be raised to give Ineos funds to improve the squad, United are looking to recoup £40m for the 24-year-old, who impressed on occasion during his loan spell back at Dortmund last season.
Such a fee may deter the Bundesliga side from making that return permanent, sources said. Juventus are reportedly interested, but another United forward, Mason Greenwood is said to have more admirers in Turin. Other “top European sides” are weighing up making a move.
Sancho himself is understood to be open to giving it another shot at United, however sources said he is unlikely to get such a chance with Ten Hag in charge, after the Dutchman banished Sancho to train with the academy side following a very public falling out last September.
With Ineos looking to recoup upwards of £100m from player sales, few could command the sort of fee Sancho can, even if it means making a huge loss on the £73m United paid to sign him in 2021.
