Manchester United are getting a taste of the manager they somehow missed out on

Mauricio Pochettino looked destined to be the next Man Utd manager on at least a couple of occasions and he is setting himself up for a big club job after the World Cup.

It has felt like destiny that one day Mauricio Pochettino would manage Manchester United, but so far that day has eluded the Argentine. Maybe it is now destined never to happen.

Pochettino has twice been at the top of the queue to be named new boss at Old Trafford, only to see circumstances dictate that the club went in the opposite direction.

As he told Four Four Two last month, ahead of guiding the United States through a home World Cup: "United have always shown interest, but the ideal scenario to manage there has never quite materialised."

In 2018/19, he was widely considered the front-runner to join at the end of the season, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer initially appointed as interim manager, only for Solskjaer to ace the audition. A win for the Norwegian away at Tottenham in mid-January, his sixth successive victory at the start of the role, was vital in tipping the balance towards Solskjaer.

After beating Paris Saint-Germain in March, United appointed Solskjaer on a permanent basis. The season ended poorly and Spurs reached the Champions League final, but Pochettino's moment had passed. He would leave Tottenham a few months later.

In 2022 he was striving to win the title at PSG in what was a reasonably underwhelming spell in charge, and was involved in a two-horse race with Erik ten Hag to join that summer, with United again using an interim in Ralf Rangnick.

United alighted on Ten Hag, which proved to be the wrong call, and it was said that football director John Murtough was impressed in talks with the Dutchman. But Pochettino tells it slightly differently.

"I was under contract at PSG," he said. "After our Champions League elimination against Real Madrid, we had no option but to make sure we secured the Ligue 1 title at the least.

"United were in a hurry to announce their new manager before the end of that season because the situation had become unsustainable. I couldn't negotiate, whereas Ajax gave Ten Hag the flexibility to do so."

Pochettino has always had a big fan in the corridors of power at Old Trafford, in Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot was hugely impressed with his Southampton team and Ferguson sought out Pochettino's number for a dinner between the two.

What seemed inevitable now looks unlikely. Pochettino's stock had probably fallen after leaving North London, although his one season at Chelsea looks better in hindsight.

But if there was a view that the 54-year-old's time at the highest level was over, the World Cup is suggesting otherwise. Pochettino's US team has played with an intensity and aggression unmatched in the competition so far and have looked more like a European club side than any other nation.

There is growing momentum behind the hosts, and if they can maintain this level, they look a good shout to reach the quarter-finals at least. That will put Pochettino back in the frame for a top European club job.

His contract is up at the end of this tournament and although he said this week he is "open" to extending his contract, it would surely make sense to call it quits. Nothing is going to match coaching the USA through a tournament on American soil. The Gold Cup won't hold the same allure.

Pochettino might be back on the market at a time when United have again just appointed a head coach. Michael Carrick has a two-year contract and looks the right appointment after his success in the second half of last season.

Had Carrick not been as successful as he was, and had United waited to make an appointment, perhaps Pochettino would be in contention again this summer. But it's beginning to look like he'll never be in that home dugout at Old Trafford.

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