Pochettino’s USA Commitments Could Complicate Manchester United’s Liverpool Preparations

United’s decision is still pending

The timing of Mauricio Pochettino’s potential move to Manchester United could shape the club’s preparations for a pivotal run of fixtures. Sky Sports reports a verbal agreement in principle with the USA head coach, but he may stay with the national team for two matches against Haiti before joining United. That leaves two separate questions: whether United will appoint him, and whether he’ll be available to take charge before the international duty is complete. The distinction matters because an agreement in principle can settle the broad direction without resolving the practical handover.

United’s decision is still pending

Michael Carrick remains in charge and led training on Wednesday. Sky says United chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox met Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco that day, a sign that senior decision-makers are involved as the club weighs its next steps. Carrick could leave before the end of the week, with Pochettino expected to be confirmed afterwards. The reported £7 million release clause in Pochettino’s USA contract is not considered an obstacle for United, according to Sky. Still, a fee being manageable doesn’t by itself settle the timing or the terms of his departure.

The club has made no announcement. BBC Sport’s Simon Stone reports that the terms are largely settled and United can decide, in talks with the US Soccer Federation, whether Pochettino stays for the Haiti fixtures on Saturday and Wednesday. That decision has a clear trade-off: an earlier arrival would give him more direct time with the squad, while completing those matches would keep him with the national team through its commitments. Neither option removes the demands of the schedule. The club’s public silence also means the reported agreement remains a media account, not a confirmed appointment.

A narrow window before Anfield

If Pochettino remains with the USA, the second match would finish in the early hours of Wednesday. He would then have only a short window to reach Carrington and prepare for United’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday 22 November. Travel, briefings and initial meetings would all compete with the limited time available for work on the pitch. A new head coach can begin forming views from video and staff reports, but that’s different from seeing players train and setting expectations in person.

That schedule would leave a new head coach with little time to assess a squad currently 18th in the Premier League, according to BBC Sport. He’d be building toward Anfield with only a few days to work with players, and with much of the preparation already shaped by Carrick’s staff. That isn’t necessarily a recipe for an immediate overhaul: in a compressed week, a coach may have to prioritize clarity and continuity over trying to introduce a wholesale change. The constraint is practical. There’s only so much a manager can learn about a group, and only so much he can ask it to absorb, before a major away fixture.

United’s next fixtures make the transition especially compressed:

The sequence allows little recovery between the Liverpool trip, the Champions League match against Sporting and the home game with Brentford. It also puts a new coach in front of different demands in quick succession: an away league match, an away European fixture, then a home league match. The point isn’t that one week will define Pochettino’s tenure. It’s that his first choices could be made before he’s had the usual time to build a detailed picture of the squad.

Rashford could return

Marcus Rashford is hoping to be available for the Liverpool match after missing six games with a hip injury and starting a new recovery programme, Stone reports. The forward has scored seven goals in 20 appearances against Liverpool, according to BBC Sport. Those figures provide a reason to pay attention to his availability, though past goals don’t guarantee a contribution in this match. His possible return would give whoever leads United a meaningful selection option as the club enters a demanding week.

For a coach arriving with limited preparation time, an experienced forward returning to contention could matter in more than one way. It would broaden the choices available for the first match and offer another player to assess within the team’s current setup. But Rashford’s fitness remains uncertain in the report, and any return would follow a period out with injury. If you’re looking at the appointment through the lens of immediate results, that’s a useful detail, not a solution to the larger challenge of preparing a squad in a few days.

What the timing could mean

Sky expects a decision on Carrick by the end of the week. The immediate question is whether United can bring Pochettino in early enough to influence the Anfield preparation; the answer will depend on how quickly the club and the US federation settle his release. The timing will also shape how much of the work falls to Carrick’s staff before the handover. Here’s the thing: a new manager’s first week is often judged by results, even when the preparation time is too short to make those results a clean measure of his ideas.

This is more significant than it looks. United are weighing the start of a new coaching regime against a run that begins at Liverpool and continues with two more fixtures within six days. An early arrival could give Pochettino some direct contact with the players, but it wouldn’t erase the compressed schedule or instantly resolve the team’s league position. If he joins after the Haiti matches, the first task may be deciding what can realistically change before Anfield and what needs more time. A measured start, if that’s the choice, would still leave the club facing immediate scrutiny.

And this is the part most people overlook: the decision concerns not only the date of an announcement, but also who carries responsibility for the preparation already underway. Carrick led Wednesday’s training, and his staff have been shaping the work around the coming fixtures. A handover can bring a fresh voice, yet the players still need a coherent plan on short notice. A tight start.

That said, United’s account of the situation remains incomplete until the club confirms its decision. The reported agreement, the release discussions and Carrick’s possible departure all point toward a transition, but the schedule makes the practical details unusually visible. The next few days will show whether Pochettino arrives before the USA’s two matches, after them, or on a timetable shaped by further talks. For now, the uncertainty is itself part of the story: United’s first test under a possible new head coach may arrive before he’s had much time to make the team his own.