Ruben Amorim lost the Europa League final to a historically bad Tottenham side and himself said he was willing to leave “without conversation or compensation” if he was not wanted by Manchester United.
In truth he will surely be given a summer to build a squad closer to something that suits his formation.
Still, though, just for fun: who could take over at Manchester United? We have the big names with the latest odds here…
10) Roberto De Zerbi
The current Marseille manager will remain high on any list of possible managers for any big Premier League club because he ‘knows the league’, doesn’t he?
6=) Zinedine Zidane
People keep trying to make Zinedine Zidane to United happen. It’s not going to happen.
6=) Unai Emery
Might be the one high-profile Premier League manager for whom the Man United job holds more appeal than Man City. He’s already had one crack at replacing a Big Six legend whose fingerprints are all over the club. At least with United he’s a good few steps removed from all that. But swapping what he’s got going at Villa for United would still be a questionable move.
6=) Marco Silva
Has done quietly brilliant things at Fulham, but would Manchester United settle for quietly brilliant things? They probably should, they definitely won’t.
6=) Andoni Iraola
Figures high in the betting for any big Premier League job after improbably taking Bournemouth into the higher reaches of the Premier League table. But it’s a big old leap in pressure.
5) Kieran McKenna
His agent played a blinder as reported interest from Manchester United and Chelsea led to a four-year contract at Ipswich that made him one of the best-paid managers in the Premier League. But would United fans really countenance the appointment of a relegated manager?
3=) Michael Carrick
Would ‘knows the club’ trump the fact that Carrick has not long been sacked by a Championship club? It didn’t work out brilliantly for Frank Lampard at Chelsea, but it remains a curiously beguiling CV booster even at the very heftiest of clubs.
3=) Mauricio Pochettino
Chelsea chose the path of abject stupidity and it appeared to leave the path clear for United to pounce on a manager they had coveted back in his Tottenham days. They decided to eschew that option in favour of sticking with what’s been working so very well for them.
Any second thoughts United might have on that bit of decision-making are for now pretty much futile, with Pochettino having taken the USA job. That surely puts him out of contention for anything else until next summer and a (mostly) home World Cup.
1=) Gareth Southgate
Very strongly linked with the Manchester United job last summer after somehow taking England to another European final. He would not be a popular appointment, but the good news for United fans is that it won’t happen.
Southgate has been pretty clear about feeling mighty comfortable about never taking another managerial job. That hasn’t stopped him being described as a “master of manipulation” and being tipped for the big job, mind.
1=) Oliver Glasner
That FA Cup win with Crystal Palace has taken the Austrian high up all the lists, and now right to the very top of the silliest of all of them with Spurs off the table for at least the next few months.