Julian Nagelsmann is ready to take the Manchester United job right now, according to one of Germany's most experienced football journalists — who has described Michael Carrick as a stand-in keeping the seat warm while talks with his successor are concluded.
The claim, reported by TEAMtalk on Tuesday, lands hours before United host Roma in the Champions League at Old Trafford, a night that was already shaping up as another referendum on Carrick's future. United are nine games without a win in all competitions and sit just outside the Premier League's bottom three on goal difference, and TEAMtalk's Graeme Bailey reports that co-owners INEOS will give Carrick until the international break to turn results around.
"He Is No Longer the Coach, He Is a Stand-in"
Marcel Reif, the 76-year-old Swiss journalist who has covered German football for decades, told Bild that Carrick's position is effectively already decided. "If you ask me, he's no longer the coach there, but rather a stand-in until the negotiations and talks with the person who is supposed to get the job are concluded," Reif said.
Asked whether Nagelsmann would be the man to replace him, Reif replied: "I believe so. Because he has a good reputation? Because he's ready, I think." Pressed on whether the 39-year-old would dare to take on a rebuild in England, he added: "If he doesn't dare to do that, then I don't understand the world. You really have to start from scratch there, especially. From zero."
Nagelsmann is immediately available. He left the Germany job in the summer after a disappointing World Cup, and Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg has previously reported — via Football365 — that he is high on United's list, open to a Premier League move, with RB Leipzig also strongly interested should their own coaching situation change.
Inside Old Trafford, his strongest advocate is director of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who worked with Nagelsmann at RB Leipzig. TEAMtalk reports Vivell is pushing his case and that Nagelsmann has made it known through agents that he would consider the United opportunity, although there are reservations elsewhere in the hierarchy about his lack of Premier League experience. United have also sounded out other names: BTFW reported on Monday that the club had made contact over Eddie Howe, with Roma and Aston Villa framed as the games that would decide Carrick's fate.
So What: The Vivell Twist and the Counter-View
There is a twist that could undermine the whole plan. Bild also reports that Bayern Munich are considering hiring Vivell himself to replace Nils Schmadtke, who will leave his role as Bayern's head of scouting on 31 January 2027. Vivell knows Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund well from their time together at RB Salzburg. If United's chief Nagelsmann backer is being courted by Bayern, the internal coalition for the appointment could weaken before it is ever tested.
Balance matters here, too. Reporting in The Athletic last week, relayed by GiveMeSport, suggested people close to the club viewed a Nagelsmann appointment as unlikely at that stage, partly because Vivell's influence at Old Trafford has dwindled. Reif's confidence is an expert opinion from Germany, not a confirmation from United — and tonight's Champions League meeting with Roma, previewed in full by BTFW, could yet shift the mood if Carrick's players finally deliver a performance.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is what a managed decline of a manager looks like — the deadline briefed, the successor debated on German television, the recruitment chief who champions him linked with a job back home. Carrick may still be picking the team against Roma, but the conversation has moved on without him. If INEOS truly believe Nagelsmann is the answer, waiting until the international break achieves nothing except two more weeks of drift. Either back Carrick properly, or make the call.
Would Nagelsmann succeed at Old Trafford — or is the United job, as Oliver Kahn warned him, an enormous risk? Have your say in the comments.
