Man United ‘make contact’ with Former Chelsea Boss as Sir Jim Ratcliffe changes Erik ten Hag plan

Man United ‘make contact’ with Former Chelsea Boss as Sir Jim Ratcliffe changes Erik ten Hag plan

Thomas Tuchel has emerged as another option for Manchester United this summer, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe searching for the best man to replace the beleaguered Erik ten Hag

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sounded out Thomas Tuchel about succeeding Erik ten Hag as Manchester United manager this summer, according to reports in Germany.

Ten Hag’s future is under intense scrutiny at United, with the new owners unimpressed by his work this season. United are seventh in the Premier League, crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages and showed their weaknesses in the narrow win over Coventry in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.

The Dutchman has another year on his contract, but has received no assurances from Ratcliffe and his INEOS team.

Ratcliffe has been busy bringing in new faces behind the scenes, with Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox filling key roles – and a new coaching staff is also now highly likely.

Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford have previously canvassed opinion on England boss Gareth Southgate and Wolves manager Gary O’Neil and Kicker now reports that Ratcliffe has made contact with Tuchel.

The former Chelsea manager will be free in the summer because he is set to depart Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

Ratcliffe reportedly ‘highly values’ Tuchel, who has two Ligue 1 titles, the Bundesliga and the Champions League among the achievements on his CV.

Tuchel is still focused on completing the season with Bayern, who have surrendered the Bundesliga to Bayer Leverkusen but have a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid on the horizon. Nevertheless, the United role is said to be his ‘dream job’.

Despite getting past Coventry and into the FA Cup final, Ten Hag’s credentials took a serious blow on Sunday at Wembley. United were 3-0 up and cruising in the 70th minute, but somehow conspired to concede three times and bring on extra-time.

They were fortunate not to lose it, with Victor Torp’s last-gasp winner ruled out for a marginal offside call. It took an Andre Onana save from Callum O’Hare’s penalty and skied spot-kick from Ben Sheaf to put United through and Jamie Carragher summed up the feeling around Ten Hag.