Next Man United manager: Significant shift for ex-Brighton and Chelsea man and clear favourite confirmed

Erik ten Hag has left Manchester United after their poor start to the season. Here’s some of the potential contenders for the post at Old Trafford, including ex-Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter.

Ruud van Nistelrooy: The 48-year-old is a United great after scoring 150 goals in 219 appearances for the Red Devils.

He joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer after previous coaching posts with Holland and PSV Eindhoven.

Following the departure of Ten Hag, Van Nistelrooy will take charge of United on an interim basis.

Graham Potter: The ex-Swansea and Ostersund manager spent three productive seasons at Brighton before moving on to the chaos at Chelsea. Potter helped transform Brighton from a team struggling against relegation to an established top half team and did so playing some attractive attacking football along the way. His strength is his man-management style and getting the best from players which could be useful for some of the talented but under-performing stars at United. He has also worked in the past with Dan Ashworth at Brighton, who is now director of football at United.

Xavi: Xavi enjoyed an impressive spell with former club Barcelona, where he took charge for three years before leaving in May.

The 44-year-old was appointed in November 2021 and steered the side from ninth in LaLiga to runners-up that season.

They were crowned league champions during Xavi’s first full campaign in charge and won the 2023 Spanish Super Cup.

Thomas Frank: The 51-year-old has impressed with his work as head coach of Brentford, where he took charge in October 2018 having previously served as assistant manager.

Frank led the Bees to the Premier League with promotion through the Championship play-offs in 2021 and the Dane has established the west London club in the top flight.

Brentford finished 16th in the Premier League last term and are currently ninth after nine games in the current campaign.

Gareth Southgate: The former England manager had been the bookmakers’ favourite for the United job in recent months.

Southgate’s only previous club management role ended in the sack at Middlesbrough in 2009, but he led the national team to a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final as well as reaching successive European Championship finals.

However, Southgate said earlier this month that he has ruled himself out of a return to coaching for the next year.

Edin Terzic: Terzic spent two seasons in charge of Borussia Dortmund before resigning in June this year.

During an interim spell in charge of the club, Terzic won the German Cup in 2021 and was appointed head coach in May 2022.

The club were Bundesliga runners-up in the 2022-23 season and reached the final of last campaign’s Champions League, where they were beaten by Real Madrid.

Ruben Amorim: Currently at Sporting Lisbon, Amorim has had previous links to clubs including Liverpool and West Ham.

The 39-year-old joined Sporting in 2020 and has won two Portuguese titles with the club.

His side are currently unbeaten so far in this year’s Primeira Liga, where they sit top of the table with maximum points from nine matches.