Manchester United's Search for a New Manager: Why Luis Enrique Stands Out
Manchester United have been urged to chase the man one of their former coaches calls the best manager on the planet – even if he thinks only a “nutcase” would actually take the job.
The club is back in familiar territory: turbulence, doubt, and the looming shadow of another managerial change. Michael Carrick will be in the dugout for Sunday’s visit of Bournemouth, but his position beyond that is hanging by a thread as the board weighs up its options yet again.
Names are already swirling. Antonio Conte has been heavily linked, only for the Italian to snap back on Friday at talk from his homeland that he is in “advanced” talks with United. Fabian Hurzeler has made his stance even clearer: he will not be coming. The Brighton boss is determined to see through what is turning into a remarkable season on the south coast before thinking about his next step.
Julian Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe and Unai Emery are all being monitored as United quietly scan the market. The list is long. The certainty is low.
Benni McCarthy, though, sees only one outstanding candidate.
Luis Enrique, or nobody.
McCarthy, who served as an assistant to Erik ten Hag between 2022 and 2024, told SportyTV that United should be aiming at the very top – even if the reality is brutal.
“[Carrick is] a young manager, and even if you go and change now, who are you going to get in his place?” he said, before nailing his colours to the mast. “For me, the most deserving manager that I would love to see at Man United is Luis Enrique, but he ain’t going to leave PSG. I wouldn’t do that if I were him.”
It is not hard to see why McCarthy is so emphatic. Enrique has turned Paris Saint-Germain into Europe’s dominant force, guiding them to back-to-back Champions League titles and bending a squad of superstars into a relentless, pressing machine. No complacency, no easing off, just a group of serial winners playing with hunger that should have been coached out of them years ago.
Right now, there is no serious argument: Enrique sits at the summit of the club game.
United, though, are nowhere near that peak, and McCarthy did not sugar-coat the size of the task – or the madness it would take to walk away from Paris.
“They have the money, but I think you’d be a nutcase if you left what is being built at PSG to come to Man United,” he said.
The criticism did not stop with the dugout. McCarthy turned his fire on the club’s ownership and decision-makers, accusing them of failing to build properly on any hint of progress.
“There’s no consistency because when you do well, you’ve only done well, not amazing,” he argued. “You have to recruit better; you have to add quality to the team that’s done well.
“Every single time some sort of stability comes, you see the following season there aren’t enough quality players brought in to create competition and strengthen the side.”
It is a familiar charge. United have had seasons that promised a platform – a trophy here, a strong league finish there – only to drift through the following summer, miss key targets, and watch rivals strengthen while they stand still.
“We’ve (Man Utd) done well, so we keep the same team. We’ve got to provide competition for the players that we have,” McCarthy said. “So that’s why they keep strengthening the team, and Man United don’t seem to do that very well when they’re on the back of a good season; then they rest on their laurels, and instead of adding to help those players now to elevate them, they just keep it the same.
“Then you have shortcomings in the new season, and everybody kind of seems to pass you by, and I think that’s what they need to try and change: a better recruitment structure and a more consistent basis.”
The diagnosis is stark: United do not just need a new manager, they need a new way of thinking.
And this is where the fantasy of Enrique collides with the hard edge of reality. PSG moved quickly in September to lock him down, handing the Spaniard a new and improved deal that ties him to the French champions until 2030. He is steering Europe’s No 1 club, armed with a squad built to his demands and a project tailored to his ideas.
United, by contrast, are still wrestling with the basics – structure, recruitment, direction.
McCarthy’s message cuts through the noise. Aim for the very best by all means, dream of Luis Enrique if you like. But until Old Trafford fixes the foundations, why would the world’s top manager walk away from Paris for chaos in Manchester?
