Krishnan Sreekumar
Spain national team manager Luis Enrique a real contender for vacant Manchester United job in the summer
According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United have viewed Spain national team manager Luis Enrique to be a real contender for the vacant permanent manager job at Old Trafford ahead of the new season.
Currently in charge of Spain, the 51-year-old has been in charge of Celta de Vigo, AS Roma, and Barcelona, with the former midfielder having loads of experience on the touchline as a head coach. As a player, he also represented Real Madrid and Barca, which is rare to see given the rivalry between the two teams.
It was at Barcelona that Enrique really made his name as a manager, with the Spaniard helping the Catalan side win two La Liga titles and a Champions League in just three years of leading the club. He is still fondly remembered at the Nou Camp for helping them win the treble in the 2014/15 season.
The Red Devils have been stepping up their pursuit of appointing a new permanent manager ahead of the new campaign, with Ajax Amsterdam boss Erik ten Hag and Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauricio Pochettino being the frontrunners for the job.
Real contender for the job
However, insiders at the club say that Enrique has many admirers at Old Trafford and believe that he is a real contender for the vacancy. Furthermore, his appointment also makes sense from a financial perspective, as United do not have to spend a lot to prise him away from the Spanish national team.
Despite the respect and admiration he has earned among club officials, Spain’s appearance at the World Cup in Qatar later this year may complicate matters in securing his signature. Although viewed as an outsider in comparison to the favourites for the permanent manager job, the Spaniard’s CV speaks for him.
But that being said, United shouldn’t really let just the financial aspect of the proceedings decide who takes the throne at Old Trafford next season. The manager’s pedigree for winning silverware, tactical know-how, and experience managing a top club is equally, if not more, important.
Having been a serial winner as a player in Spain while representing two of the biggest teams in the country, he continued racking up trophies as a manager while he was in charge of Barcelona. Boasting a front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez, the Catalan side were arguably one of the best teams in Europe.
He would give up success at the Nou Camp for a stint with the Spanish national team, where he led them to a UEFA Nations League final recently, where they lost to France in the summit clash. Now, he has been linked with the United job in the summer, although there have not been any concrete talks between the club and the manager as of yet.
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His time at Barca is where he was catapulted to fame as a brilliant boss, but in truth, when you had a front three as he did and a strong midfield and defence to back it up, winning becomes a bit easier. If he were to take up the job at Old Trafford next season, he would have to assemble a team that can deliver the same kind of glory that his Barca side did in the past.
Spain’s appearance in the World Cup taking place later this year is a real dilemma in United’s pursuit of Enrique, and it is clear that the task at hand when you become a Man United manager in the post-Alex Ferguson era is not small at all. It remains to be seen whether United chase ten Hag and Pochettino, or go with Enrique in the coming weeks.
