Gary Neville and Sir Alex Ferguson’s right-hand man agree on next Man Utd boss

Former Manchester United assistant Rene Meulensteen believes Carlo Ancelotti is the perfect choice to be the next manager – a view shared by Gary Neville

Former Manchester United coach, Rene Meulensteen, has tipped Carlo Ancelotti as the ideal candidate to take over the reins at Old Trafford. The Red Devils are on the hunt for a new permanent manager following the sacking of Ruben Amorim last week.

Ex-United midfielder Michael Carrick has been appointed as the interim head coach until the season’s end, with his primary objective being to secure Champions League football for the club. Carrick, who previously managed Middlesbrough, won over the United board during discussions and will be supported by Steve Holland and Travis Binnion at M16.

Carrick’s first test will be this Saturday’s lunchtime Premier League clash against Manchester City (12.30pm). Despite his appointment, speculation continues to swirl about who will be named as United’s next permanent boss.

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The club is expected to announce a full-time head coach at the conclusion of the season, with several high-profile names in the mix. Luis Enrique and Roberto De Zerbi have been mooted, along with Xabi Alonso, who recently departed Real Madrid.

However, Meulensteen, who served under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford from 2007 to 2013, told Casinostugan that he believes Ancelotti, the former Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss, is the perfect fit for United. The Italian is currently focused on leading Brazil to World Cup glory this summer, but his plans beyond the tournament, which concludes on July 19 in Mexico, Canada and the United States, remain uncertain, reports the Manchester Evening News.

He said: “Carlo Ancelotti is the guy with the type of pedigree who can handle it because he’s done it, he’s seen it and he knows what a winning culture looks like. I don’t think Ancelotti would listen to anybody else.

“Ancelotti would say this is what I’m doing. I’m managing what I’m here to do.

“They obviously weren’t aligned. He had different ideas about how it should be run than people in the background.”

Ex-Reds skipper Gary Neville has recently concurred with Meulensteen that Ancelotti is a prime candidate to take over the reins at United.

“With these last 12 years being a period of massive underperformance for Manchester United managers, there are certain boxes the next candidate now needs to tick,” Neville penned in the Overlap newsletter.

“1. You have to be able to handle the media and the noise which comes with this club. It is what it is, so get over it and deal with it. It’s why you’re getting paid the big bucks.

“2. You have to show that you can have success getting into the top four, that you can cope with Champions League football, and that you can get the best out of a group of players that will include egos and superstars.

“3. You must understand the Premier League and English football culture because it’s different to competing in many of the European leagues.

“4. You also have to understand the Manchester United way, which means you have to be a glass-half-full kind of manager. Be positive and prepared to take risks and play with pace and excitement. In all likelihood that is going to a variation of 4-4-1-1 / 4-2-3-1.

“You have got to be pretty special to tick all four of those boxes and, as such, the outstanding candidate for me would be Carlo Ancelotti, even if it would mean potentially delaying his arrival until late July if Brazil reached the World Cup final.

“No-one comes as close to fulfilling everything laid out above than he does. Ironically, the club met with Carlo shortly before his [Sir Alex Ferguson’s] retirement in 2013 and we could have short-circuited this entire process, starting with him at the beginning of the cycle.

“But, by that stage, he was close to agreeing to joining Real Madrid for his first spell in charge and so what might have been a perfect appointment never happened.”

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