United sit 18th in the Premier League after one league win, and no final decision has been taken.
Michael Carrick's future as Manchester United head coach will be discussed in Monaco on Wednesday, when chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox meet minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to give their recommendations on Carrick's future. Sources expect the pair to recommend that Carrick goes, but club sources insist no final decision has been taken.
ESPN's sources say the meeting was pre-planned and was not called in response to the team's form, although Carrick's future is set to dominate it. Monaco is where Ratcliffe lives, and the principality also houses offices belonging to his firm Ineos.
United are 18th in the Premier League, in the relegation zone, after one league win. The club stood by Carrick after a 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth on 25 October. Since then they have lost 2-0 at Chelsea, where Lisandro Martinez was sent off, come from two goals down to beat Roma 3-2, and twice recovered from two goals down to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa on Sunday. Opta ranks Carrick sixth of the eight permanent managers since Sir Alex Ferguson left, with a 47% win ratio.
Carrick, speaking after the Villa draw, said:
"But I'm pretty clear where we need to go and how we need to get there."
Sky Sports News understands the club has three reasons for not rushing a decision. Supporters are not calling for him to go, the boardroom feels the players still back him, and the bosses doubt that a change of coach would fix the team's problems.
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol went further: "But with the present ownership structure, I don't think things are going to change." He said a new manager would only paper over the cracks.
BBC Sport reports Carrick will continue to do his job until told otherwise, and so far there has been no conversation to that effect. It adds that most of the squad is on international duty, with a core at home and training days scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; the players are not due to report back until 17 November, by which time the international contingent should start to return ahead of the trip to Liverpool on 22 November.
Mauricio Pochettino, the USA head coach, is among the names in the frame and, ESPN reports, would be interested if a vacancy comes up at Old Trafford. Sky Sports News understands he would be open to talks if the club approached him, and it is thought the cost of buying him out of his USA contract is around £7m. BBC Sport reports a $10m (£7.5m) release clause. It adds that United have spoken to the 54-year-old about their job three times: when Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2018, in 2022 when they chose Erik ten Hag, and after Ten Hag was sacked.
ESPN reports that Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte are all out of work and in the frame.
The Glazer family will also need to sign off any decision.
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