Who will be in charge for Man Utd's next game?

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 21 Nov 2021 12:06 GMT
• 3 min read

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sacked as manager of Manchester United, the club will need to act quickly to appoint a successor.

However, with games coming thick and fast it is likely that someone will need to step in over the next week to handle coaching and team selection.

Man Utd have upcoming matches against Villarreal in the Champions League and Chelsea in the Premier League within the next seven days.

For those fixtures, it has been confirmed that Solskjaer's current assistant Michael Carrick will take charge.

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Despite finishing second in the league last season, Solskjaer's team have regressed in 2021/22 despite the Norwegian receiving considerable funds to strengthen his squad in the summer.

Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo were all brought in for big money.

The Red Devils have won just five out of their opening 12 fixtures in the Premier League and are down in seventh behind Wolves.

They have suffered embarrassing recent defeats against Liverpool and Man City but things reached the point of no return for Solskjaer over the weekend as they were humbled 4-1 away by promoted side Watford.

Solskjaer was sacked the day after that defeat.

Who will be the next Man Utd manager?

Carrick will obviously be a temporary appointment at Old Trafford, as the club have announced they will look for an interim boss until the end of the season.

At the moment, the leading contender to replace Solskjaer is former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

The Frenchman's success both as a player and a manager is almost unmatched by the majority of his peers.

However, he doesn't speak English, so that may present an issue, while he is also reportedly keen on the France job whenever it becomes available.

Antonio Conte was mentioned before he was appointed Spurs boss.

Mauricio Pochettino remains a candidate despite currently being in charge of Paris Saint-Germain.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, distances himself from the Man Utd job while Solskjaer was still in charge, but may be interested in making the switch to Old Trafford.