Speaking to JOE, Jamie Carragher has been discussing Antonio Conte and Manchester United’s failure to appoint the Italian in late 2021.
Cast your mind back about nine months and you’ll remember that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was on the brink of the sack at Old Trafford, while Nuno Espirito Santo was also hanging by a thread at Spurs.
Manchester United and Tottenham met in a game dubbed ‘El Sackico’, with the loser of that match widely expected to lose their jobs.
Nuno, of course, was on the wrong side of a 3-0 defeat against United, and he was ultimately relieved of his duties.
This led to Spurs hiring Antonio Conte, while Manchester United would go after Ralf Rangnick after Solskjaer’s sacking.
It seems as though Spurs ended up with the better manager, and Carragher still can’t believe that United didn’t go and get Conte.
What’s been said?
Carragher spoke about United’s failure to get Conte on board.
“Unbelievable, a manager that could go up against Klopp and Guardiola with his own record and not be inferior in any way shape or form, whether that’s on the touchline or in a press conference,” Carragher said.
“Gary makes the point that he leaves after one or two years, but United need to get out of the mindset that you have a manager for 26 years, the Ferguson thing is over, and most clubs have a manager for two or three years now and then you go to the next one.”
Short-termism
Manchester United have embraced short-termism in every other area of the club, but they won’t appoint a manager like Conte because he’s not likely to stay for a decade.
Signings such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have shown that United aren’t afraid of short-termism, and they’re even being linked to Marco Arnautovic this summer.
However, for one reason or another, they won’t go in that direction with a new manager, even if it’s someone with as much obvious quality and pedigree as Conte.
Passing up on the Italian may be something United regret for years to come.
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