hand man names perfect next Man United boss

Sir Alex Ferguson's right-hand man names perfect next Man United boss - and Gary Neville agrees

Manchester United have been linked with several big names as they look towards appointing a new head coach next summer, with Michael Carrick in charge until then.

Ex-Manchester United assistant, Rene Meulensteen, believes Carlo Ancelotti should be the Reds' next head coach. United are looking for a new permanent boss after sacking Ruben Amorim last week.

The club's former midfielder, Michael Carrick, has now been confirmed as United's interim head coach until the end of the season as he looks to secure Champions League football at Old Trafford. The ex-Middlesbrough boss impressed United's hierarchy during discussions and will be assisted by Steve Holland and Travis Binnion at M16.

Carrick will take charge of Saturday lunchtime's Premier League Manchester derby vs Manchester City (12.30pm). However, his appointment won't stop speculation around who will come in as the Reds' next permanent boss.

The club are expected to appoint a new head coach on a full-time basis at the end of the campaign, with several names linked. Luis Enrique and Roberto De Zerbi are two names that have been suggested, with Xabi Alonso also mentioned after leaving Real Madrid.

But Meulensteen, who worked at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2007 and 2013, has explained to Casinostugan why he thinks former Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss Ancelotti is the man for United. The Italian will be looking to win the World Cup for Brazil this summer, but his future is unclear beyond the tournament in Mexico, Canada and the United States, which ends on July 19.

He said: "Carlo Ancelotti is the guy with the type of pedigree who can handle it because he's done it, he's seen it and he knows what a winning culture looks like. I don't think Ancelotti would listen to anybody else.

"Ancelotti would say this is what I'm doing. I'm managing what I'm here to do.

"They obviously weren't aligned. He had different ideas about how it should be run than people in the background."

Former Reds captain Gary Neville has recently agreed with Meulensteen that Ancelotti is a stand-out contender to become United's next boss.

"With these last 12 years being a period of massive underperformance for Manchester United managers, there are certain boxes the next candidate now needs to tick," Neville wrote in the Overlap newsletter.

"1. You have to be able to handle the media and the noise which comes with this club. It is what it is, so get over it and deal with it. It's why you're getting paid the big bucks.

"2. You have to show that you can have success getting into the top four, that you can cope with Champions League football, and that you can get the best out of a group of players that will include egos and superstars.

"3. You must understand the Premier League and English football culture because it's different to competing in many of the European leagues.

"4. You also have to understand the Manchester United way, which means you have to be a glass-half-full kind of manager. Be positive and prepared to take risks and play with pace and excitement. In all likelihood that is going to a variation of 4-4-1-1 / 4-2-3-1.

"You have got to be pretty special to tick all four of those boxes and, as such, the outstanding candidate for me would be Carlo Ancelotti, even if it would mean potentially delaying his arrival until late July if Brazil reached the World Cup final.

"No-one comes as close to fulfilling everything laid out above than he does. Ironically, the club met with Carlo shortly before his [Sir Alex Ferguson's] retirement in 2013 and we could have short-circuited this entire process, starting with him at the beginning of the cycle.

"But, by that stage, he was close to agreeing to joining Real Madrid for his first spell in charge and so what might have been a perfect appointment never happened."

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