Jamie Carragher says Unai Emery should be the next Manchester United manager – but thinks they probably won’t give him a chance for two key reasons.
Emery continues to work miracles at Aston Villa, who sit fourth in the Premier League and are hoping to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three seasons.
Manchester United have been impressed by caretaker manager Michael Carrick’s work but will assess their options in the summer.
Some of the most-wanted managers in the game are committed to international football at the moment: Thomas Tuchel with England, Carlo Ancelotti at Brazil, and Julian Nagelsmann with Germany.
Emery – whose contract at Villa Park runs until 2029 – is likely being considered against names such as Roberto De Zerbi, who left Marseille in February, and Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola.
But Carragher has outlined two major reasons why he feels Emery won’t be afforded a sniff at the job (if indeed he wanted it).
Unai Emery should be the next Manchester United manager, according to Jamie Carragher
Carragher says United will be hesistant to hire him due to his failures at PSG and Arsenal and his fondness for control
He wrote in The Telegraph: ‘Unai Emery should be heading to Old Trafford this weekend as the front-runner to become the next Manchester United manager.
‘Sadly for Emery, and happily for Villa, the Spaniard is painted as an overachiever at clubs trying to challenge the elite, and an underachiever at those who consider themselves already part of it.
‘Emery’s work at Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla and Villa has cemented an unwanted reputation: that he has found his level just below the established superpowers. If you are a sleeping giant struggling in mid-table with aspirations of finishing fourth and winning the Europa League, he is the man to call. If, like United, you are dreaming big to win the Premier League and Champions League in the next five years, Emery’s record at Arsenal and Paris St-Germain is a red flag.
‘But there is another, more significant factor working against the 54-year-old which explains United’s apparent lack of interest. Emery is one of the few symbols of a bygone era when managers wanted and assumed complete control of a club’s football operations.
‘It has reached a point where if a younger, up-and-coming version of Sir Alex Ferguson was on the market, some sporting directors would probably hesitate to approach him because they would fear for their own relevance.
‘He [Emery] may need to keep working miracles at Villa Park – and to reverse the trend giving more power to the director of football – to convince a club of United’s status and wealth to turn him into a Premier League and Champions League winner.’
Emery will always drive transfers at Villa but in January they appointed Roberto Olabe as their new head of football operations and he has a part to play in that.
A long-time ally of the Spaniard, he is seen as more studious and less combustible than his predecessor Monchi, and that should lead to a more careful approach to transfers in the summer, as our colleague Tom Collomosse has written.
Thus, it is not as if Emery has no experience of working within a structure of executives, but he does enjoy greater control than other managers and head coaches.
Both of his stints with elite clubs have left question marks. Emery lasted two seasons with PSG after missing out on the Ligue 1 title in his first campaign, and was sacked in November of his second season with Arsenal.
In any case, the Manchester United job might not become available.
Carrick has won six, drawn one, and lost one of his eight games in charge, giving United reason to consider appointing him on a permanent basis.
