Oliver Kahn warns Nagelsmann against Manchester United job after 4-1 Champions League humiliation

Julian Nagelsmann has been publicly warned off the Manchester United job by Oliver Kahn, his former boss at Bayern Munich, as pressure mounts on current manager Michael Carrick following a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como.

Kahn, speaking on German football talk show Triple - der Hagedorn Fußballtalk, questioned whether United represented a wise next step for the 39-year-old German coach. “The Premier League and Manchester United have not been known for much continuity in the managerial position in recent years,” Kahn said. “He has to ask himself: What is my next step? Does it have to be the right one? Or do I immediately associate it with an enormous risk like Manchester United, where essentially every manager in recent years has failed sooner or later? You should look very carefully at where you’re going.”

Kahn also suggested that Nagelsmann’s tenures at Bayern Munich and with the German national team — neither widely regarded as successes — may have taken a toll, and questioned whether his strengths are better suited to a project built around upward momentum rather than a club mired in dysfunction.

Nagelsmann has been out of work since leaving the Germany job in the aftermath of their World Cup exit. He had been linked with the United vacancy in the summer before Carrick was appointed on a permanent basis, and according to the Daily Mail, United’s director of recruitment Christopher Vivell is now pushing for him to be the leading candidate should the club opt for another change.

Carrick cut a subdued figure at full-time in Como, waving to the travelling supporters as speculation over his future intensified. The defeat represented a new low in a difficult season and has reignited debate over the decision-making of United’s hierarchy under Ineos, who have now backed three managers in quick succession — Erik ten Hag, Ruben Amorim, and Carrick — with diminishing returns each time.

Nagelsmann is reportedly one of five candidates privately sounded out by the club. The warning from Kahn adds a notable public dimension to what has so far been an internal deliberation, and underscores the scale of the reputational risk United now pose to any high-profile managerial appointment.