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Mauricio Pochettino wants to become the next Manchester United manager as pressure mounts on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The MEN understands Pochettino, recently sacked by Tottenham Hotspur, remains enchanted by the prospect of managing United after he was originally earmarked as Jose Mourinho's successor last season.

Pochettino wanted the United manager's role following Mourinho's dismissal last December but Solskjaer presided over 14 wins from 19 as caretaker coach, including a remarkable Champions League knockout revival at Paris Saint-Germain, to become permanent manager in March.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is understood to have placed barriers to prevent Pochettino from managing a rival club again this season as part of his severance package. Pochettino is already under consideration to succeed Unai Emery as the next Arsenal manager and believed to be open to taking over at the Emirates Stadium, despite his Tottenham ties.

Competition for Pochettino is expected to be intense, with Bayern Munich also linked with a move for the Argentinian. Hansi Flick is in caretaker charge of Bayern, fourth in the Bundesliga, and Pochettino has previously expressed interest in coaching Real Madrid and spent two years as a player with Paris Saint-Germain. United currently have no intention of changing manager and are behind Solskjaer.

"It's that time of year, it's never nice to see your colleagues lose your jobs," Solskjaer said on Tuesday. "Three in a very short space of time. Some of them, you can talk about this VAR all day long, I don't know what the reasons are behind the sackings at different clubs, but one result - Southampton-Watford - with the handball, and we're talking about something completely different.

"It's a game of margins. Sometimes you have luck, sometimes you don't. But it doesn't make me any more concerned."

Pochettino confirmed on Monday he is open to offers. “I am open to listen to the projects that are presented to me. My intention is to redirect in Europe.

"At my age one does not need much time to recover. There are a lot of clubs and attractive projects for me to take on."

United have still not appointed a director of football almost a year on from outlining their intention to do so and Pochettino has not worked with one since Paul Mitchell tendered his resignation at Tottenham in 2016.

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Mitchell is the technical director at Red Bull Leipzig and believed to have held conversations with United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward about moving to United, but was not enthused by the job spec.

Solskjaer has only won 10 of his 31 matches as full-time United manager and possesses a win ratio of 48 per cent from 50 games in charge. United have won only four of their 14 Premier League fixtures this term and host Mourinho's Tottenham on Wednesday night before the first Manchester derby of the season at City on Saturday.

Solskjaer would have to secure three wins from the next three domestic matches to have a superior record after the same number of matches when Mourinho was jettisoned last year. Mourinho left with United on 26 points from 17 and they currently have 18 points from 14.

Pochettino established Tottenham as top four regulars during his five-and-a-half years in North London. Tottenham finished, third, second, third and fourth to qualify for the Champions League four years running and reached their first ever European Cup final last season.

The blemish on Pochettino's CV is the absence of silverware. Tottenham lost to Liverpool in the Madrid final in June and were beaten by Chelsea in the 2015 League Cup final in Pochettino's maiden season with the club. Spurs also lost FA Cup semi-finals to Chelsea in 2017, United in 2018 and the League Cup semi-final to Chelsea earlier this year.

In January, Pochettino peculiarly claimed trophies 'only builds your ego. The most important thing for Tottenham right now is to always be in the top four', though his contrary behaviour coincided with Solskjaer's purple patch period with United. Pochettino then became increasingly frustrated by the thrifty Tottenham chairman Levy.

Pochettino's development of young players at Tottenham such as Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane and Harry Winks chimes with United's own emphasis on youth. United would not necessarily have to recalibrate their young and British transfer strategy if they were to hire Pochettino, who has a track record of identifying homegrown talents in the transfer market.