Exclusive: Xavi emerges as contender to be next Man United manager

Xavi Hernandez is emerging as a potential target for Manchester United if the club decide to sack manager Erik ten Hag.

Mail Sport understands that intermediaries have made contact with the former Barcelona star twice in the last few months.

A four-man delegation led by chief executive Omar Berrada flew out to Barcelona last Thursday, although United sources say that a number of high-level meetings have taken place in the Catalan capital recently because co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been there to support Ineos Britannia sailing teamin their battle with New Zealand for the America’s Cup.

But it has also fuelled speculation that Xavi could be a contender if Ten Hag is axed after two-and-half years in charge.

Ten Hag’s assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy would be an obvious short-term replacement – and Xavi has also made it clear that he doesn’t want to coach in Spain again.

United sources maintain that Ten Hag remains their manager and the club have no plans to make a change as he prepares to face Fenerbahce in the Europa Leagueon Thursday. 

The Dutchman has endured a difficult start to the season after keeping his job in the summer during a summit meeting with Ineos executives in Ibiza after United’s minority owners spoke to a number of potential replacements around the FA Cup final.

With Thomas Tuchel signing a contract to become the next England boss on October 8, two days before Gareth Southgate ruled himself out of a return to the dugout for another year, the field would be even narrower if United axe Ten Hag now.

Besides Xavi, Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim and former Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic could come into contention, although Amorim is being widely tipped to replace Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Fergie’s away-day absence

Having missed United’s win over Brentford at Old Trafford to fulfila long-standing commitment to attend the Celtic-Aberdeen game last weekend, Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t expected to be at Fenerbahce and West Ham this week either.

It comes in the wake of news that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has decided to rip up the legendary United manager’s £2million-a-year contract as a club ambassador at the end of this season.

Sources tell Confidential not to read too much into Ferguson’s absence however. He didn’t travel to Porto for the last Europa League tie earlier this month, and the 82-year-old has only watched one of the four Premier League away games this season – at Villa Park.

They fully expect to see him in the Old Trafford directors’ box again as United start a run of four straight home games after West Ham, and reiterate that he is equally welcome at away games as well.

Ten Hag’s stress-free presser

Havingarrived two hours late for their stadium press conference in Porto due to poor weather which held up the team flight, United have been eager to have as stress-free experience as possible going to Istanbul this week.

Given it’s a four-hour afternoon flight from Manchester, United had explored the possibility of completing Erik ten Hag’s press conference at home before heading over for the game.

United have previous for this when travelling to Turkey in years gone by, citing the logistical issues presented by a two-hour time difference and the challenge of getting around Istanbul.

But UEFA rules dictate that press conferences need to be held on site – their preference is at the host’s stadium – and at the latest time of 8pm.

That made life tricky for United given they fly mid-afternoon and Istanbul traffic adding to the stress placed upon Ten Hag and the designated player.

In a gesture of goodwill, UEFA have given United an additional hour to undertake their press conference, as well as allowing them to do it at the team hotel, rather than at Fenerbahce’s Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.

Over the weekend there were real concerns that the necessary facilities to host a UEFA-standard press conference would not be available at the team’s Istanbul base due to an apparent lack of industry-standard AV (audio-visual) equipment.

But Confidential understands that last-minute arrangements now mean that it will go ahead as planned late on Wednesday night.

Istanbul alert for fans

United fans in Istanbul for the clash with Fenerbahce on Thursday have been told to avoid the main square because of fears over large numbers of Besiktas supporters gathering to watch their game against Lyon on TV.

The club warned those with a ticket for the game not to travel through Taksim Square as the area is likely to be ‘extremely busy’ with Besiktas supporters who are expected to pack the bars and restaurants for their Europa League game against the French side.

Initially United said the reason for the warning was due to ‘the Besiktas v Lyon game’, suggesting the match is in Turkey when it is actually being played 1,500 miles away in France. The club then updated their guidance after fans noticed the gaffe.

United supporters have also been ordered to use shuttle buses to get to and from the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium on police advice. The ground is on the Asian side of the city, while the square – which also served as a meeting point for fans for the Champions League encounter with Galatasaray last November – is across the river on the European side.

But a host of fans are set to ignore the instructions as the buses leave five hours before the scheduled 10pmkick-off time and could take up to two hours to get to the stadium.

Erik’s fairytale ending

Two days after calling out sections of the media for what he claimed were ‘fairytales and lies’ over his future as United manager, Erik ten Hag wasn’t holding any grudges as he ended the week by turning up at the Northern Football Writers’ Association annual dinner in Manchester on Sunday night.

Picking up an award for winning the FA Cup in May, Ten Hag thanked his audience and joked about not having seen the United press pack during the international break.

‘I’ve really missed all my friends in the last two weeks,’ he said. ‘Some are nice to me and some are not so nice to me, but I will speak with everyone.’

He was good to his word, staying long after many had expected him to leave following the early presentation to chat freely with journalists and guests.

Of course, it helped that Saturday’s win over Brentford eased some of the pressure on Ten Hag, but he wasn’t about to sugar-coat United’s poor start to the season.

‘We are not in a good start, we know that,’ he added. ‘We were happy yesterday, but it was just one win. If you want to win trophies you have to continue. But I also know you don’t win trophies in autumn or winter or even in spring. You win trophies in April and May.

‘We are on a journey. There is a long way to go. At Manchester United we really believe we are going in the right direction. I would say to all the writers: be patient, let’s wait (to see) how the season will go and how we progress and where we end.’

United also had a table at the FWA dinner so were better prepared for the event than Bruno Fernandes three years ago who unwittingly turned up at the hotel venue having arranged a quiet meeting with then Portugal coach Fernando Santos only to find himself besieged by dozens of reporters.

Appleton back in the mix

Confidential revealed last month that Michael Appleton wasn’t going to be United’s new loans manager after all, but it appears that might not be the end of the matter.

Speculation over Appleton returning to his childhood club have swirled since the summer amid uncertainty over whether the former Portsmouth, Preston, Blackpool, Blackburn, Oxford and Lincoln boss would take the job.

The 48-year-old was spotted sitting alongside United’s new sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox at Salford City’s Peninsula Stadium last week where the Under-21s fought out a 1-1 draw with Hertha Berlin in the Premier League International Cup.

It has re-ignited talk that Appleton may indeed be appointed in the near future to oversee United’s young players who go out on loan to other clubs, or possibly in another role at the club. Watch this space.

Bruno makes memories

To Bruno Fernandes’ many attributes, we can now add a good memory.

It was almost three months since a fan messaged the United captain to say he was bringing his autistic son to Old Trafford for the first time when Brentford visited last weekend.

Fernandes remembered and made arrangements to meet them in the tunnel after the game. Having set up the winning goal for Ramus Hojlund in United’s 2-1 victory, he gave the son his match shirt and had some pictures taken together.

Unfortunately, Fernandes won’t be available in Fenerbahce as he serves a one-match ban following his sending-off in Porto.

Hot-shot Martin off the mark

One major positive from the week in the academy, however, is that star summer signing Chido Obi Martin is off the mark in a Manchester United shirt.

The highly-rated strikerjoined from Arsenal in one of the youth moves of the summer and he got his first outing for the Red Devils off the bench in a 4-3 U18 win over Sunderland.

Obi Martin netted 32 goals for Arsenal’s U18s last season in just 19 games and so the expectation around him and his potential is understandably sky high.

It stood out just how big Obi Martin’s frame looked against opposing defenders and while United are eager not to rush his development there is a sense among scouts and interested observers of youth football that the 16-year-old will be in and around the U21 group in no time at all.

Forlan’s tour de force

At the age of 45, former United marksman Diego Forlan ispreparing to make his debut on tennis’ ATP Tournext month.

Forlan is a huge tennis fan and has committed to playing lower-level events in recent years. But he is about to take the plunge into the big leagues when he competes in the doubles of the Uruguay Open in Montevideo next month alongside Federico Coria.

Had the cards fallen differently, Forlan may have only ever been a tennis player, eventually turning his back on an impressive junior career to focus on football.

Forlan has largely been playing on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) level and his profile labels him as ranked 108 in the world for players aged 45 and over.

A deft touch as a football and a relentless desire to win from his football days will serve him well with a crowd set to flock to the doubles court to see him in action. The Uruguay Open will take place between November 11-17.

Mitchell backs old boss

Mitchell van der Gaag may have left United as Erik ten Hag’s No.2, but he is still optimistic that his old friend has a future at Old Trafford.

Van der Gaag followed Ten Hag to United in 2022 after working together at Ajax and left along with Steve McClaren in the summer to make way for new assistants Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake.

The Dutchman, who turns 53 on Tuesday, still keeps a keen eye on United and believes Ten Hag can turn the club around despite a difficult start to the season.

‘If it was an easy job, anyone could be there,’ said Van der Gaag. ‘Since the departure of Alex Ferguson, there have been peaks and troughs. The great thing about Erik is he always keeps looking ahead and going. You can't control the rest.

‘You see with Ineos that they are on the same page as Ten Hag and dare to look ahead. But in that whole process, you do need results. In that respect, it was nice to beat Brentford last weekend.’

Explaining his Old Trafford exit, he added: ‘What happened? Well, not so much. It is my ambition to become a head coach again, after first being an assistant at Ajax and then at Manchester United. It's great to be an assistant, but at some point you have your own ambitions again.’

Van der Gaag was speaking to NOS Voetbal from his holiday home in Portugal where he previously coached Maritimo and Belenenses – and had a pacemaker fitted in September 2013 after suffering a heart attack in the dugout.

‘I'm still reminded of it quite often in Portugal, because it happened here,’ he said. ‘I am now back in Portugal after a long absence, so a lot of questions are asked how I am. That's good too, it puts things in perspective.’

Red card for TikTok cheats

It's been a bad week for those pretending to be United players on social media.

Rising star JJ Gabriel, nicknamed ‘Kid Messi’, publicly called out a TikTok account purporting to be his official page.

The account, which boasts more than 77,000 followers, has been taking images and videos of Gabriel from various sources and then making it appear like it is their own, which has drawn the ire of the 14-year-old.

Gabriel took to Instagram to call on his followers to report the account, while also promoting his own TikTok page which currently has fewer than 5,000 followers.

But it is an issue that also extended to the women’s team with Ella Toone and her academy targeted by impersonators.

A statement from Toone’s E7 academy explained that scammers have been using unofficial email accounts, along with a fake Facebook profile, to try and communicate with parents of kids using the Lioness’ academy. ‘Stay safe and vigilant,’ Toone’s representatives said.

Academy fan frustration

Few clubs can generate the level of interest in their academy that Manchester United can, but fans are becoming increasingly irate at how difficult it is to follow the club’s U18s and U21s.

Widespread cuts made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have strained resources, meaning much of the focus has had to be placed onto Erik ten Hag and the first team.

United do not have a dedicated social media channel for its academy, as many rivals do, and Confidential has been sent numerous messages of fans frustrated at the inability to watch the games live.

Of the next five academy games, only one is available to watch live on MUTV – United’s U18s hosting Nottingham Forest at Carrington on Saturday – with others only available for highlights at a later date.

Confidential has written before about Premier League broadcasting regulations which prevent any academy games being shown when a Premier League first-team game is on television; an archaic approach which may well be looked into in the next rights agreement.

United’s U19s head to Lithuania this week to face FK Zalgiris in a Youth League qualifier, but that falls under UEFA broadcasting restrictions due to Champions League games being played at the same time and so fans will have no ability to watch it outside of the stadium.

Similarly, Friday night’s U21 visit to play Newcastle is blocked from coverage due to Leicester City v Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on the same night, while the Premier League International Cup match for the U21s against PSV Eindhoven is off the TV slate due to a clash with United’s first team against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup that same night.

For the dedicated academy fans eager to chart the progress of an exciting crop of young players, it is as difficult as it’s ever been.

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