Manchester United Eye Antonio Conte as Potential Successor to Carrick

Manchester United have sounded out Antonio Conte as a potential successor to Michael Carrick – but the word from inside the club is that the current manager is going nowhere for now.

Carrick, confirmed as permanent United boss at the end of last season after steering the team into the Champions League for 2026/27, is under early pressure after a flat start to the new Premier League campaign. Four games, four points. For a club of United’s scale, that number glares.

He had stepped up as interim manager in January 2026 and did enough over the second half of the season to convince the hierarchy he was the man to lead the next phase. The reward was the job full-time. The reality now is a difficult opening month that has already triggered speculation over his future.

Conte at the top of the list

In Italy, they are already drawing up the next act.

According to the September 15 print edition of Corriere della Sera, relayed by SportWitness and CalcioMercato, United’s co-owners INEOS have identified Conte as the leading candidate should they decide to make a change in the dugout. The 57-year-old is currently out of work after leaving Napoli at the end of last season and is understood to be waiting for the right project before returning to club management.

On pedigree alone, he fits the bill. Conte has collected 10 major trophies across an elite career. He turned Chelsea into Premier League champions in 2016/17, built a Juventus side that dominated Serie A with titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014, snapped Inter Milan’s long wait for the Scudetto in 2021 and then took Napoli to the Italian title in 2025. His track record screams instant impact and domestic dominance.

For a club wrestling with inconsistency, it is no surprise his name sits at the top of United’s reported shortlist if Carrick’s tenure unravels.

INEOS stance: pressure, but no panic

The noise in Italy tells one story. The message from those close to United tells another.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has moved to cool talk of an imminent change, insisting INEOS are not preparing to sack Carrick at this stage. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano stressed that the ownership group “absolutely remain convinced that the future will be bright under Michael Carrick” despite the underwhelming league start.

Behind that stance lies a belief that the squad still needs one more key piece. Romano revealed that United had pushed for a left-back in the summer window but walked away when they could not find a target they truly believed in. The club, he said, were determined not to sign a player “just to say: ‘OK, we signed one’,” and chose to wait for the right option instead.

That decision has left Carrick working with a group the club still rates highly, but one they accept is not quite complete. Even so, Romano insists the faith in the manager is “total”, with the board viewing the four points from four games as disappointing but not defining.

Carrick’s conviction

Carrick, for his part, is not backing down. Romano underlined that the optimism the Englishman shows in front of the cameras mirrors his message inside the training ground and boardroom.

“What Carrick says in public – ‘We are going to do very well, I am confident, this team is good’ and all the rest – is what he’s saying to the club,” Romano explained. The manager remains convinced this squad can produce a strong run over the coming weeks and months, particularly once the international break is out of the way and the schedule settles.

So United sit at a familiar crossroads. A proven serial winner like Conte waits in the wings, at least in theory. A young manager in Carrick clings to both his job and his belief that this project is only just beginning.

The question now is simple and brutal: how long will results allow that conviction to hold?