Manchester United's Managerial Situation: Conte as Potential Successor to Carrick

Manchester United have sounded out Antonio Conte as a potential successor to Michael Carrick – but the message from inside the club is clear: not yet.

Carrick, handed the permanent job at Old Trafford at the end of last season after dragging United into the Champions League for 2026/27, is already under scrutiny. Four points from the first four Premier League games have drained early-season optimism and stirred familiar doubts around the dugout.

Appointed interim boss in January 2026 and then rewarded for stabilising a drifting side, Carrick walked into this campaign with Champions League football secured and the backing of the new co-owners, INEOS. That credit is being tested early.

Conte at the top of the list

In Italy, they see a different story forming.

September 15’s print edition of Corriere della Sera reports that INEOS are actively weighing up the possibility of dismissing Carrick and turning to Antonio Conte, the former Chelsea, Juventus, Inter and Napoli coach. The 57-year-old is currently out of work after leaving Napoli at the end of last season and is understood to be waiting for the “right project” before jumping back into club management.

According to Corriere della Sera, relayed by SportWitness and CalcioMercato, Conte sits at the very top of United’s shortlist if the club choose to make a change. On pedigree alone, it is easy to see why his name dominates the conversation.

Conte has collected 10 major trophies across an intense, combustible career on the touchline. He stormed to the Premier League title with Chelsea in 2016/17, built a Juventus dynasty with three straight Serie A crowns in 2012, 2013 and 2014, then broke Inter’s long wait for the Scudetto in 2021. In 2025, he added another Italian title with Napoli, underlining his status as one of the most proven winners available on the market.

For a club wrestling with its identity and desperate to return to the top, the prospect of Conte’s iron grip and relentless standards is bound to appeal. The links will not go away easily.

INEOS hold the line on Carrick

Inside Old Trafford, though, the mood is different to the noise coming from Italy.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has moved to cool talk of an imminent change, insisting INEOS are not planning to sack Carrick “anytime soon”. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano stressed that United’s hierarchy “absolutely remain convinced that the future will be bright under Michael Carrick” despite the flat league start.

The club accept that their summer business was incomplete. Romano revealed that United pushed to add a left-back in the last window but walked away when they could not find what they viewed as the right option. They refused to sign a player simply to tick a box, even with the squad clearly short in that area.

That stance has left Carrick exposed in the early weeks, but, according to Romano, it has not shaken the belief in him. United “maintain total faith and confidence” in their manager, even as four points from four games sharpen the criticism outside.

Carrick, for his part, is said to be just as unwavering. The bullish tone he has struck in public – insisting his team will “do very well”, that the squad is good enough and that better days are coming – mirrors what he is telling the club behind closed doors. He believes the group will click after the international break and that the coming weeks and months will show the true level of this side.

United’s first Champions League outing of the season, a win last week, has at least offered a glimpse of that potential and bought him some breathing space.

So the picture is set: a proven serial winner in Conte waiting in the wings, Italian reports talking up a possible change, and a new ownership group publicly standing firm behind a young manager they chose to trust.

If the results do not turn quickly, how long does that resolve really last?