Rudi Garcia confirms Manchester United head coach job interview

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed as Manchester United’s newest head coach and will soon enter the impossible job that the Old Trafford role has proven to be for 13 post-Fergie years.

The Argentine, formerly of Southampton, Spurs and Chelsea in England, has been a name linked with the United job for nearly a decade, and the stars have finally aligned.

Pochettino is reportedly the only candidate United spoke to, despite the likes of Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte and other names being held in high regard.

Even before the interim days of stand-in boss Ralf Rangnick in 2021/22, Pochettino was tipped, but never interviewed for the job.

One candidate from 2021 alongside Rangnick, after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been sacked, has finally spoken out about his experience.

Rudi Garcia, who managed United goalkeeper Senne Lammens during the 2026 World Cup, was whittled down to the final two alongside Rangnick.

In an interview with The Athletic, Garcia has confirmed this: “Yes, I interviewed twice to work in this fantastic club, one of the best clubs in the world.”

“I’d like to work in England and I met Darren Fletcher (then technical director) and John Murtough (then football director).

“It was an interim role and they asked me what I would do once it was over. I told them I would do so well that I would be staying in Manchester, but they gave the job to Ralf.”

For the first time, out of management after recent jobs at Al Nassr, Napoli and Belgium, Garcia has confessed that he got close to the United job.

Ralf Rangnick, who was ultimately picked ahead of Garcia, made headlines during his chaotic time in temporary charge of the club, infamously saying Manchester United needed an “operation of the open heart,” and that issues went far beyond just changing players and managers constantly.

How different things could have been had Garcia been picked over Rangnick, we will never know, but the eventual-United boss’s assessment was brutally correct.

Newly-appointed Mauricio Pochettino is set to be the fourth permanent boss at the club in just as many years following Rangnick’s exit.