Man Utd Could Target Antonee Robinson, He Says Pochettino is ‘Top-Class’

Mauricio Pochettino is in line to become the next Manchester United head coach. The Reds are preparing to appoint the Argentine with Michael Carrick facing the sack following a dismal start to the season, and they are ready to back him in the January transfer window too, according to GIVEMESPORT senior correspondent Ben Jacobs.

United have won just one of their opening 10 Premier League matches and sit inside the relegation zone going into the November international break. CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox recommended a change in the dugout to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS during a meeting in Monaco on Tuesday, with Carrick’s time at Old Trafford coming to an end.

Pochettino has since been identified as Carrick’s replacement with United in the process of triggering his £7.5million release clause at the United States national team. The Argentine has been with the USMNT for the last two years and was in charge for the home 2026 World Cup, a tournament in which his nation lost in the Round of 16, following a 4-1 defeat to Belgium.

Despite having three-and-a-half years left on his contract, Pochettino has now decided to leave and move to United, and he could bring one of his USMNT players with him to Old Trafford.

Antonee Robinson is the player in question, with United keen to strengthen at left-back and long admirers of the Fulham man.

Diogo Dalot has deputised in Luke Shaw’s absence on the left side of the back four, but has struggled and was subject to strong criticism following Sunday’s 4-4 draw against Aston Villa. Shaw suffered a muscle injury last month, and although he is nearing a return to full fitness, United are expected to look at adding a new left-back in January.

Speaking on the latest episode of GMS’ Market Madness podcast on Tuesday, our senior football correspondent, Ben Jacobs, hinted that Robinson is someone United might look at in the January transfer window, having recaptured his form at Fulham this season.

However, the Whites might decide to cash in on the 29-year-old given their difficult start of the season and the fact he has just 18 months to run on his contract at Craven Cottage.

Jacobs said: ‘There’s still a chance that with Man United we see a left-back [targeted in January]. They’ve looked at David Raum in the past. Antonee Robinson might be a player that a few clubs look at in the winter market, especially if it looks like Fulham are struggling, and there may be some opportunism there.

“So we will get some winter movement, but there’s just two bits of caution. The first is that this inflated market from the summer may bleed over into the winter and put a lot of clubs off spending mid-season. And the second broader point is that the winter market is always a seller’s market, not a buyer’s market.”

Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday, USMNT left-back Robinson was asked about Pochettino amid speculation linking the ex-Tottenham and Chelsea boss about becoming the new man in the dugout at United.

“That news got sprung on all of us like the rest of the world,” Robinson said. “Similar things have happened in the past after the World Cup where huge teams lose a manager and they start looking at possible candidates.

“For us to have a manager who gets linked to those sorts of jobs means we’re very lucky we’re working with a top-level manager, he added. “But that never seems to leak into the work we do, whether it’s the World Cup or whether it’s this camp.”

USMNT face Haiti in a Concacaf Nations League fixture on Saturday and Robinson is preparing like business as usual despite talk around Pochettino moving to United. “As a soccer player, I’m pretty used to sort of fast-changing environments,” Robinson added. “So we’re all very good at just focusing on the next task at hand and the next game coming up.

“And for me personally, I don’t really look at him being in limbo with jobs. It’s just focusing on we’ve got a game for the weekend and I’m going to do everything I can to be ready to play for him.”

As well as Robinson, David Raum is another left-back United are looking at. The German, 28, has starred for RB Leipzig in recent years and has been capped 40 times by his national team.

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