Mark OgdenFeb 9, 2026, 04:03 AM ETCloseMark Ogden is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @MarkOgden_.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play1:48Is this Pep Guardiola’s final season at Manchester City?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate whether Pep Guardiola could leave Manchester City at the end of the season.
play1:25Should Eddie Howe’s Newcastle future be in doubt?Don Hutchison reacts to Newcastle’s 3-2 loss to Brentford in the Premier League.
Could Carrick’s Man United finish above Man City? (2:12)Janusz Michallik debates Man United’s aims under Michael Carrick after their win over Tottenham. (2:12)
Is this Pep Guardiola’s final season at Manchester City?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate whether Pep Guardiola could leave Manchester City at the end of the season.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate whether Pep Guardiola could leave Manchester City at the end of the season.
Should Eddie Howe’s Newcastle future be in doubt?Don Hutchison reacts to Newcastle’s 3-2 loss to Brentford in the Premier League.
Buckle up for a summer of managerial mayhem at some of the world’s biggest football clubs, because Manchester United and Real Madrid are likely to have some heavyweight rivals as they attempt to fill their head coach vacancies.
The dismissals of Ruben Amorim (United) and Xabi Alonso (Madrid) last month mean that searches are underway at Old Trafford and the Bernabéu for a new head coach while, respectively, Michael Carrick and Alvaro Arbeloa take charge until the end of the season.
So what lies ahead for the clubs in the market for a new coach — and those who might have to move quickly if their incumbent moves on?
Carrick has won four games out of four since replacing Amorim on Jan. 13, but the former United midfielder, whose sole managerial experience ended with the sack at Championship side Middlesbrough last summer, is only in charge until the end of the season.
That might change if results continue to be impressive, but United are determined to hire a proven coach who can make the team challenge for Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles again, and Carrick’s experience to date would ordinarily rule him out.
Tuchel and Ancelotti stand out as the strongest options. Both have Premier League experience with Chelsea (Ancelotti also coached Everton) and both have won the Champions League at least once, but if United want either of them, they would need to make moves to secure them before the World Cup starts in June and that could prove problematic.
ESPN sources have said United are in “no rush” to make an appointment, which could help Carrick, but, at some point soon, the Old Trafford hierarchy must make a choice and nail down their top target.
Ogden: Carrick’s success is creating a problem for Man United’s hierarchy
Arbeloa was given an open-ended contract as first-team coach following Alonso’s exit last month, but the former Madrid and Liverpool defender’s future will be based on results, and they have been mixed so far.
Former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has been a Madrid target for years and, now in a front office role as head of global soccer at Red Bull, a return to coaching at the world’s biggest club could tempt the 58-year-old.
Madrid could also go back to former coaches Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane — both have had two spells on charge at the Bernabéu — but whoever gets the job will be a star name.
The former Barcelona and Bayern coach will have been at City for 10 years this summer, and he has extended his contract on a number of occasions when many had expected him to leave, but there is a growing belief within the game this could be Guardiola’s final year at the club.
If Guardiola bids farewell, sources have told ESPN that Bayern coach Vincent Kompany, a former City captain, will be the front-runner to take over at the Etihad.
Kompany has the City credentials, a strong relationship with the club hierarchy and a winning CV with Bayern, but City are such a well-organized club that it would be a surprise if their succession plan wasn’t already in place.
Alonso, PSG coach Luis Enrique and former Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca, a former Guardiola assistant at City, are also likely contenders.
Is this Pep Guardiola’s final season at Manchester City?
Luis Enrique is arguably the only coach in club football right now who could challenge Guardiola for the title as the world’s best.
Having won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, he repeated that success in style with PSG last year, building one of the most exciting teams in recent years at the Parc des Princes by moving on from the club’s superstar era and bedding in an outstanding crop of young players.
Reports in France last month said that the 55-year-old would not extend his existing contract, which expires in 2027, and would instead consider a new challenge elsewhere.
But the former Spain coach is now in talks over a new deal in Paris, and efforts are being made to accelerate negotiations in an effort to rule him out of contention for the many top jobs that could become available this summer.
Slot is under contract as Liverpool head coach until the end of next season and, having won the Premier League in his first season as Klopp’s successor last year, looked set for a lengthy stay at Anfield.
But the team’s poor performances this season following a £450 million outlay on summer signings have placed the 47-year-old’s position in jeopardy.
Liverpool are still in the Champions League and FA Cup, but they are slipping in the battle to secure a top-five spot in the Premier League — especially after Sunday’s 2-1 capitulation at the hands of Man City. If Liverpool fail to secure a Champions League spot, Slot will struggle to survive.
The 39-year-old was rewarded with a new contract last October which commits him to Bayern until the end of the 2028-29 season, but all of Bayern’s best-laid plans could be ripped up if Guardiola leaves Manchester City this summer.
Kompany has influential support among the hierarchy at the Etihad and the chance to return to Manchester as head coach would be difficult to turn down.
Bayern will flex their muscle as a European heavyweight to keep Kompany, but if City come calling, the German champions will have options, including Alonso, who had a successful three-year period as a player at the Allianz Arena between 2014 to 2017.
But timing could be everything. Alonso will have other admirers — Liverpool and possibly PSG — so Bayern need to have contingency plans.
Eddie Howe has brought stability and success to Newcastle since being appointed as manager — manager, not head coach — in November 2021.
But despite ending the club’s 70-year wait for a domestic trophy with last season’s Carabao Cup and also guiding Newcastle into the Champions League on two occasions, the team’s form this season has led to supporter unrest for the first time during Howe’s reign in charge.
Newcastle’s progress since being taken over by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund in 2021 has slowed to a halt and repeated problems in the transfer market have frustrated Howe.
With the England job likely to become available when Tuchel’s contract expires after the World Cup, a natural parting of the ways could happen at Newcastle this summer.
Don Hutchison reacts to Newcastle’s 3-2 loss to Brentford in the Premier League.
Thomas Frank is locked in a weekly battle for survival at Spurs, despite the former Brentford coach arriving at the club only last summer.
With the club’s supporters having turned against Frank in recent weeks, the 52-year-old seems to be heading for an inevitable exit in the summer, if not before.
And there is only one coach who could appease the supporters and bring a sense of unity to the club: USMNT coach Pochettino.
The Benfica job is perhaps not in the same prestigious bracket as those mentioned above, but it is likely to be a significant position this summer.
ESPN sources in Portugal expect Benfica coach Jose Mourinho to be offered the national team job when Roberto Martinez’s contract expires after the World Cup and, if Mourinho does move into the international game, expect Amorim to return to management at Estadio da Luz.
Amorim guided Lisbon rivals Sporting CP to two league titles during his time in charge at Estadio Jose Alvalade, but he spent nine years as a player with Benfica and has significant support among the club’s decision-makers.
Amorim’s dismal 14-month spell in charge of Manchester United has damaged his reputation as one of Europe’s best young coaches, but his stock is still high in Portugal, and Benfica could be his route back into the game.
MOST LIKELY OUTCOME: Mourinho leaves — for Portugal or the Premier League — and Amorim takes the Benfica job.
Could Carrick’s Man United finish above Man City? (2:12)Janusz Michallik debates Man United’s aims under Michael Carrick after their win over Tottenham. (2:12)
Janusz Michallik debates Man United’s aims under Michael Carrick after their win over Tottenham. (2:12)
Mark OgdenFeb 9, 2026, 04:03 AM ETCloseMark Ogden is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @MarkOgden_.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseMark Ogden is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @MarkOgden_.Follow on X
But with uncertainty surrounding the futures of Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Arne Slot (Liverpool) and Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain), the coaching recruitment market could become increasingly crowded this summer, especially if Thomas Frank (Tottenham Hotspur) and Eddie Howe (Newcastle United) continue to struggle in the weeks ahead.
When Sir Alex Ferguson retired as United manager in 2013, the Premier League club ended up hiring Everton’s David Moyes as his replacement due to Madrid (Carlo Ancelotti), PSG (Laurent Blanc), Chelsea (Jose Mourinho), Bayern Munich (Guardiola) and Man City (Manuel Pellegrini) moving more quickly in their search for new coaches that year.
This year’s race to hire a new coach promises to be a challenging one. This summer is complicated by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with leading coaches including Ancelotti (Brazil), Thomas Tuchel (England), Didier Deschamps (France) and Mauricio Pochettino (United States) all out of contract after the tournament,