“The deal was basically done”: Super agent says manager with “a spark of genius” was set to become United boss

Football super-agent Pini Zahavi has revealed that Thomas Tuchel was on the brink of becoming Manchester United boss in the summer before Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS decided to afford Erik ten Hag more time.

Ten Hag – who was eventually sacked late last month – came close to losing his job in the summer following an extremely poor 2023/24 season in which United finished a lowly eighth in the Premier League.

For large parts of that campaign, the Red Devils were harshly criticised for their underwhelming performances and results, which often left a lot to be desired.

However, after a lengthy end-of-season review, Ratcliffe and the new football leadership group elected to stick with Ten Hag, thanks in part to an FA Cup final triumph over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Wembley.

It’s believed that during the review, INEOS held exploratory talks with a number of potential replacements for Ten Hag including Tuchel, Kieran McKenna, Roberto De Zerbi, Marco Silva, Gareth Southgate, Thomas Frank and Graham Potter.

Fabrizio Romano revealed that Tuchel personally spoke to Ratcliffe but ultimately turned down the United job.

In hindsight, it was the wrong decision to keep Ten Hag in the Old Trafford dugout. Fast forward a few months later and Tuchel was appointed as England manager. Mere days after he was confirmed as boss of the Three Lions, Ten Hag permanently parted ways with United, with the final straw being a 2-1 loss to West Ham.

Pini Zahavi – who represents a number of high-profile footballers including Christopher Nkunku, Angel Gomes, Roberto Lewandowski and Jonathan Tah – spoke to Die Welt and insisted that Tuchel should have taken the United managerial role.

Zahavi said, “If I were Thomas, I would have gone to Manchester United.”

“He had the opportunity. Everything was prepared, the deal was basically done.”

“Thomas has a spark of genius in him. But in today’s football you have to be wise and a diplomat. He will have to learn that.”

Meanwhile, Ten Hag’s replacement is due to officially begin work at United on Monday. Ruben Amorim put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract to become the next gaffer of the 20-time English champions.