The United States men's national team gathered in Fayetteville, Georgia, for its first official matches since the World Cup, with speculation swirling that head coach Mauricio Pochettino could replace Michael Carrick as Manchester United manager. As reported by The Athletic on Monday night, Pochettino has a buyout clause in his contract worth around $10 million, a figure that would rise if his assistants were included as well. Carrick remained in his role as of Tuesday morning.
Pochettino is one of several names linked to the Manchester United job. Before overseeing a training session at U.S. Soccer's National Training Center outside Atlanta, he casually greeted the press but did not comment on the reports. U.S. Soccer federation president Cindy Parlow Cone was also present and spoke with some media members.
The U.S. is preparing to face Haiti in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals, with the first leg set for November 14 in Miami and the second leg three days later in Cincinnati.
This is not the first time the national team has dealt with this kind of speculation around Pochettino. Less than a month before last June's World Cup, he met with AC Milan officials to discuss potentially succeeding Massimiliano Allegri after the tournament. Pochettino went on to lead the Americans through a World Cup in which they won their group and scored more goals than any previous U.S. men's team, before losing to Belgium in the round of 16. His contract was subsequently renewed by the federation through the 2030 World Cup.
Defender Antonee Robinson said the reports have not affected the squad's focus. "I mean that news kind of gets thrown all over the rest of the world I'd say," Robinson said when asked about Pochettino and Manchester United. "Similar things happened in the past, I think with the World Cup where huge teams lose their manager and then they start looking at possible candidates. For us to have a manager who's linked with those sorts of jobs means, you know, we're very lucky."
"We know that we're working with a top-class manager, but that never seems to leak into the work we do, whether it was the World Cup or whether it's going to be this camp," he added.
Pochettino has previously spoken about his desire to coach the Argentina national team or return to Tottenham Hotspur. Robinson acknowledged the constant noise around his manager but said it does not change the team's approach. "All that sort of outside noises, you know, has nothing to do with him," Robinson said. "He's very much focused on getting the best out of the team, getting these two wins in Nations League and we'll be on the same page as well."
Robinson said players are "pretty used to sort of fast-changing environments" given the turnover at head coach positions across world football, adding that professionals are trained to "focus on the next task at hand." "For me personally," he said, "I don't really look at, you know, him being linked with jobs as, 'Oh, this could be the last time he's in front of me.' It's just focusing on we've got a game at the weekend and I'm going to do everything I can to be ready to play for him and how he wants us to play until told otherwise. It's just working with what we've got until things change. And I don't really think it affects many of us, to be honest."
Seventeen-year-old midfielder Cavan Sullivan also spoke about Pochettino's influence. "He's taken me under his wing in the most tremendous way possible," Sullivan said. "I was obviously a young guy coming in and he told me to just play free and be myself and have confidence in my ability. But that didn't mean I was let off the hook." Sullivan added, "I'm someone who really appreciates that directness on the field, but also the warmth, the hugs. He's just a really personable guy off the field and everyone loves him as a guy. The whole coaching staff is amazing."
