Manchester United set to surpass £100m spent on managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired

Manchester United are on course to spend more than £100 million on hiring and sacking managers since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, should the club proceed with dismissing Michael Carrick and appointing Mauricio Pochettino as his successor.

United’s board members are meeting Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco, where they are expected to recommend that Carrick be sacked. Pochettino has already held initial talks with the club, and United would need to pay around $10 million (£7.4m) in compensation to release the Argentine from his role as head coach of the United States men’s national team.

Sacking Carrick, estimated to cost £2.9 million, would bring United’s total bill for dismissing managers in the post-Ferguson era to £79.1 million. Adding Pochettino’s £7.4 million release fee would push the overall hiring expenditure to £21 million — taking the combined figure beyond the £100 million mark.

The numbers are inflated in part by the club’s recent managerial churn. United confirmed the final cost of parting ways with Ruben Amorim in their September financial results, while the prior year’s accounts recorded exceptional costs of £36.6 million, primarily attributable to the dismissal of Erik ten Hag and members of his backroom staff.

Amorim’s departure bill was reduced from an initial estimate of £16.7 million — which covered his coaching staff, including Carlos Fernandes, Adelio Candido, Emanuel Ferro and Jorge Vital — to £8.2 million after he was appointed by AC Milan over the summer.

Should Pochettino be confirmed, the 54-year-old would become United’s eighth permanent manager since Ferguson stepped down, a period in which the club has won just five trophies.