Update (Saturday 14 November). Manchester United officially confirmed Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach on Friday 13 November. According to ESPN he has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, and the club will pay US Soccer a $10 million (around £7.5m) release fee. Pochettino will still take charge of the United States for two matches against Haiti, then start work at Carrington on Wednesday 18 November. That leaves him four days before his first game: Liverpool away at Anfield on Sunday 22 November at 16:30 UK time.
For FPL, nothing changes yet. Our model does not know about the new coach, so Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m, 20.4% owned) and Mbeumo (£7.9m, 19%) still carry an 85 rating and a Buy verdict. The market is more cautious: since the Gameweek 10 deadline almost 85,000 managers have sold Mbeumo and 46,000 have sold Bruno. Our advice stays the same: do not buy United players before the trip to Anfield (a difficulty-4 fixture), and wait for Pochettino’s first line-up. A better moment to buy is Gameweek 12, when United host Brentford. In defence, Maguire (5% owned, back, 75%) and, as of today, Dorgu (hamstring, 75%) are flagged.
Manchester United announced the departure of Michael Carrick on Thursday 12 November. The club are 18th, in the relegation zone, with eight points from ten matches. According to Sky Sports and Fabrizio Romano, Mauricio Pochettino, currently head coach of the United States, is set to take over. There has been no official announcement yet. In FPL this mainly concerns Bruno Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo, each owned by roughly one manager in five.
The key points
- Carrick has gone less than six months after signing a two-year contract. He won one league match out of ten this season.
- Pochettino has a verbal agreement with the club. United still have to settle his release clause with the US federation.
- The new manager’s first match will most likely be the trip to Liverpool on Sunday 22 November at 16:30.
- Bruno Fernandes (20.4% owned) and Mbeumo (19.1%) are both rated 85 by our model. Mbeumo is the sixth most-sold player since the last deadline.
- Our advice: do not buy anyone from United before the new manager’s first line-up, and do not sell in a panic. After Anfield the fixtures get noticeably easier.
What the club announced
In Thursday’s statement Manchester United said Carrick is no longer head coach of the first team. The club said that after a disappointing start to the season a change is necessary, and that a permanent successor will be named quickly. The statement also recalled what Carrick did before: he took over in January, won 12 of the remaining 17 league matches and finished the season in third place. That earned him a two-year contract in May.
In the summer, when there were seven managerial changes in the league, Carrick was one of those who stayed in the job. He lasted ten rounds.
United’s season in numbers
| Gameweek | Match | United’s result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hull (away) | 0-2 |
| 2 | Ipswich (home) | 5-2 |
| 3 | Everton (away) | 2-2 |
| 4 | Manchester City (home) | 0-1 |
| 5 | Fulham (away) | 1-1 |
| 6 | Tottenham (home) | 1-1 |
| 7 | Leeds (away) | 1-1 |
| 8 | Bournemouth (home) | 0-3 |
| 9 | Chelsea (away) | 0-2 |
| 10 | Aston Villa (home) | 4-4 |
That is one win, five draws and four defeats, with 14 goals scored and 19 conceded. Since beating Ipswich in Gameweek 2, United have gone eight league matches without a win. According to media reports it is the club’s worst start in forty years.
The attack is not the problem. Fourteen goals puts United level with Liverpool and Aston Villa. The problem is the defence: only Ipswich and Crystal Palace have conceded more. On top of that came tension in the dressing room. After the 4-1 defeat at Como in the Champions League, Carrick left Bruno on the bench against Bournemouth, as we covered in our Gameweek 8 review. According to Sky Sports, that 3-0 defeat was when the manager was given a last chance. The 4-4 draw with Aston Villa, described in our Gameweek 10 review, did not save him.
Who the successor is and when he starts
Pochettino has managed Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea in England and has been head coach of the United States since 2024. According to Sky Sports he has a verbal agreement with United. Later reports say the framework of the deal has also been agreed with the US federation. Sources differ on the size of the release clause: Sky Sports reports £7m, other outlets $10m. His long-time staff, led by Jesús Pérez, are expected to come to Manchester with him.
The date is still open. The United States play Haiti on 14 and 17 November. The most widely reported scenario is that Pochettino takes charge of both matches and starts work in Manchester on 18 or 19 November, three or four days before the match at Anfield. Most players only return from international duty in the middle of next week anyway.
What it means for FPL
| Player | Pos. | Price | Owned | Points | Our rating | Sold since the deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno Fernandes | MID | £11.6m | 20.4% | 45 | 85, buy | 42,000 |
| Mbeumo | MID | £7.9m | 19.1% | 46 | 85, buy | 78,000 |
| Lammens | GKP | £4.8m | 7.2% | 21 | 67, risky | 18,000 |
| Cunha | MID | £7.8m | 5.6% | 45 | 82, buy | 12,000 |
| Maguire | DEF | £4.6m | 5.1% | 16 | 70, hold | 18,000 |
| Tielemans | MID | £5.6m | 1.2% | 31 | 83, buy | 2,000 |
First, an honest word about our model. The ratings above come from match data and fixtures. The model does not know the manager has changed and cannot predict who will gain or lose a place in the team. These numbers describe how the players have performed so far, not how they will play under Pochettino.
Bruno Fernandes. He has 45 points, 23 of them from a single match against Ipswich. He costs £11.6m, £0.4m less than at the start of the season. He takes the penalties and that is unlikely to change. Pochettino has usually set up his teams with an attacking midfielder behind the striker. At his last club, Chelsea in 2023/24, Cole Palmer played that role and scored 22 league goals. That is a reason not to write Bruno off, but not a reason to buy him blind at that price before a trip to Anfield.
Mbeumo and Cunha. Mbeumo has played almost every minute and has the most points in the squad (46). Even so, 78,000 managers have sold him since the last deadline. Cunha has 45 points from just 703 minutes and only 5.6% ownership, so on paper he is the most interesting of the three. Under a new manager, though, the only secure place is the one a player earns in training. The earliest we will know is the line-up against Liverpool.
Tielemans. He costs £5.6m, is rated 83 by our model and is owned by only 1.2%. We covered his transfer in the summer in our piece United activate the Tielemans release clause. He is one for the watchlist if he keeps his place in midfield.
The defence. The advice here is simple. United have conceded 19 goals in ten matches. Lammens is rated 67 (“risky”) and Maguire is flagged at 75% after a back problem. Until the new manager sorts out the defence, we are not buying United defenders or their goalkeeper.
United’s fixtures after the change of manager
| Gameweek | Date (UK time) | Match | Difficulty (1–5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Sunday 22 Nov, 16:30 | Liverpool (away) | 4 |
| 12 | Saturday 28 Nov, 15:00 | Brentford (home) | 3 |
| 13 | Wednesday 2 Dec, 20:15 | Newcastle (away) | 3 |
| 14 | Saturday 5 Dec, 15:00 | Coventry (home) | 2 |
| 15 | Sunday 13 Dec, 19:00 | Crystal Palace (away) | 2 |
The first match is the hardest of the five. After that come two of medium difficulty and two easy ones: Coventry at home and a trip to Crystal Palace, who are currently bottom of the table. So if you are thinking about United players, Gameweek 12 is a better time to buy than Gameweek 11. By then you will have seen the new manager’s first line-up. Fixture difficulty for every club is on our Fixture Ticker.
What to do now
- You own Bruno or Mbeumo: do not sell just because the manager has changed. Both are playing, both are scoring points and the fixtures after Anfield are good. The exception: you need the money for a more urgent move, for example to replace an injured player.
- You own nobody from United: wait. Buying before the new manager’s first line-up and before a trip to Anfield is risk without reward.
- Captain: no United player is in the top five of our captain picks for Gameweek 11.
- United defenders and goalkeeper: avoid for now.
The Gameweek 11 deadline is Saturday 21 November at 11:00 UK time. We covered the rest of the international break news today in our piece on the Guéhi, van Dijk and Manzambi injuries. The best transfers for the next round are on our Who to Buy page. We will update this article once the club officially announces the new manager.
Written with the help of AI, based on Manchester United’s statement and media reports from 12 November 2026 (Sky Sports, Goal, Yahoo Sports), data from the official Fantasy Premier League game and our rating engine. Mauricio Pochettino’s appointment has not yet been officially confirmed by the club. Edited and checked by our editorial team.