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Wayne Rooney believes Mauricio Pochettino is the right manager to rebuild Manchester United, who he says have no chance of competing in the Champions League.
Ralf Rangnick’s side limped to a 1-1 draw to Leicester City on Saturday, leaving them three points behind the Premier League’s top-four but that could extend to six if Arsenal beat Crystal Palace on Monday.
Tottenham have also played a game fewer than United, whose season relies on securing Champions League football after disappointing in other competitions.
Indeed, United were eliminated in UEFA’s flagship competition at the last-16 stage by Atletico Madrid and were unable to yield any returns in the domestic trophies, the FA Cup and EFL Cup.
United parted ways with club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer late in November and brought in Rangnick on a short-term contract, though neither have achieved success during what Rooney described as an unusual season.
Central to the reparation job at Old Trafford is their next permanent managerial appointment, with Ajax’s Erik ten Hag and Paris Saint-Germain’s Pochettino reportedly the frontrunners to take charge.
United great Rooney believes Pochettino has the credentials to deliver success, despite reports that Ten Hag has been offered the role.
“I think Pochettino has done it, he knows the Premier League and at Tottenham, and Southampton, he brought a lot of young players through,” the Derby County boss told Sky Sports.
“So, if I’m choosing from one of them two then I’m going with Pochettino and giving him time. I think managers need time to come in and put their print on the club, the team and if you give him time I think he’ll do well.
“Pochettino is a top-class manager and he knows how to work with young players and you need to get that blend right as they can’t afford to fail again.”
Asked to describe United’s campaign, Rooney responded: “Strange. I’ve been to watch them live and it looks like a team of individuals and one of them always seem to make a mistake, then it’s very difficult to recover as a team.
“So, you have to look at it and say it hasn’t been good enough, with that group of players they have to perform better and they’re going through a tough time as a club.
“I think what everyone wants is to get the manager situation sorted then they can rebuild over the next two, three years and start challenging again.”
Rangnick has previously stated United will need two or three transfer windows to rebuild, and Rooney agrees that his former side are in dire need of change.
“For Manchester United not to be challenging, I think they’d want this season to stop now if it could and forget about the Champions League because they’re not going to compete next year if they qualify,” he added.
“They have to rebuild; the squad, everything around the first team, throughout the club to put themselves in the position in two or three years’ time that they can actually go and challenge to win the Premier League.”
