How Worried Should USMNT Be About Mauricio Pochettino Leaving for Man Utd?

The United States men’s national team ultimately underwhelmed at the 2026 World Cup on home soil, making a promising start but later shrouded in unhelpful controversy—not of its own making—and then wilting when confronted with a genuine test in the round of 16.

Still, Mauricio Pochettino—a free agent at the end of the tournament—was handed a new contract that gave him and his staff much greater and wider influence than previously.

The Argentine is being asked to “advise and support U.S. Soccer on the broader development of the full national team pathway, youth soccer, coaching education, professional league collaboration and other technical facets.”

No longer just a head coach, the plan is to help advance soccer in the United States at every level. But, three months into the project, it might already be in danger of ending.

This is the risk of having an A-list manager. Others want them, too.

Pochettino has emerged as a leading candidate for Manchester United. Nothing is decided but there is an expectation that CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Jason Wilcox will recommend to Sir Jim Ratcliffe later this week that Michael Carrick be fired. The Red Devils appear to be taking a different path than before, going straight to a new permanent manager instead of using an interim—as Carrick himself initially was—in the short term.

There are few bigger jobs in soccer than Manchester United—despite the club’s alarming on-field decline and the challenges that face any new manager—and Pochettino is described by BBC Sport as “open” to the possibility of taking it on.

It is suggested that his contract with U.S. Soccer includes a buyout clause that can be triggered in the event of “specific high-profile jobs” coming up. The Athletic reports that clause to be $10 million, although anyone also interested in equipping Pochettino with his trusted support staff would need to pay “millions more dollars.”

Although Pochettino has turned his career to international coaching since being hired by the USMNT in 2024, he remains one of the Premier League’s most revered managers of the past 10–15 years, since a surprise appointment by Southampton in 2013.

Pochettino established the Saints as a Premier League force—in a way that Brighton & Hove Albion, Bournemouth and Brentford are today—and later led Tottenham Hotspur to consistent Champions League qualifications and even the 2019 final. A spell at Chelsea in 2023–24, which came after winning three trophies in 18 months at Paris Saint-Germain, was less successful. But the 54-year-old’s reputation was by no means tainted owing to the wider problems he encountered, clashing with the senior hierarchy. To head to Old Trafford, he would likely need a clear assurance on his role and the power balance hammered out during negotiations.

It’s not a given at this stage that he would accept, but it is definitely a possibility.

Manchester United have been linked with Pochettino every few years over the last decade, but the stars have never fully aligned to make it so. He first sparked speculation in 2016 when Louis van Gaal was under pressure by meeting Sir Alex Ferguson for dinner.

There was reported interest when José Mourinho was fired at the end of 2018, with further links once more in 2021 following Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s demise, and again in 2022 when the club was considering a permanent successor during Ralf Rangnick’s interim leadership.

A complicating factor for the USMNT is imminent matches coming up against Haiti in the two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals. The first of the pair is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Miami, followed by the second leg in Cincinnati three days later.

Manchester United will need any replacement for Carrick in place in good time before the club’s next match against Liverpool in the Premier League on Nov. 22. That could see the process accelerate if the Red Devils settle on Pochettino, potentially leaving the Stars and Stripes in the lurch. Should negotiations be ongoing in the background while the USMMT is playing, Pochettino might remain in charge but it would be a source of extreme distraction.

Haiti hasn’t beaten the U.S. since 1973, but three successive American wins in Gold Cup play since 2015 have all been by a single goal only and the Caribbean nation would hope to take advantage if American focus wavers even slightly. Recapturing the Nations League trophy that the USMNT previously monopolized but Mexico claimed in 2024–25 depends on it.

The silver lining for U.S. Soccer is that receiving considerable compensation for Pochettino and his staff to break their contract would at least offer capital to reinvest in the next manager.