MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Struggling Premier League giant Manchester United fired Michael Carrick on Thursday and was closing in on a deal to replace him with U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino in moves that could shake up soccer on both sides of the Atlantic.
United was hopeful of announcing Pochettino's appointment before he takes charge of the U.S. team’s upcoming games against Haiti on Saturday and Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
While the move could end years of decline for the 20-time English champion, the loss of Pochettino would be a major blow to the U.S. national team so soon after he signed a four-year contract extension through to the 2030 World Cup.
Carrick was fired after overseeing United's worst start to a Premier League season, leaving the it in the relegation zone after 10 games. Pochettino is seen as the man to resurrect the once dominant club's fortunes after years of decline.
The 54-year-old Argentine had previously been a leading candidate for the job in 2022 when Erik ten Hag was ultimately hired.
Pochettino has coached Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea in the Premier League and won the French title with Paris Saint-Germain. He took over the U.S. in 2024 and led it to the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup.
United States striker Folarin Balogun said Thursday he wanted the coach to stay on with the national team.
“If I had a vote I would like to keep things the way they are,” he said.
Carrick’s departure comes less than six months after he was given a two-year contract and the responsibility of bringing the good times back to United, which hasn’t won the league since managerial great Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
A 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday left United 18th in the 20-team standings after just one league win all season. With eight points from 10 games, it is United’s worst start for 40 years — predating the Premier League era.
“After a disappointing start to the season, the club has come to the extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions,” United said.
United added that the club intended to "appoint a permanent successor as quickly as possible.”
Carrick was told by chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox on Thursday morning that his reign had come to an end following an internal review.
Firing Carrick comes after he insisted he would not walk away from the job following the chaotic draw with Villa that highlighted United’s defensive flaws.
It means United is on the hunt for an eighth permanent manager since Ferguson’s departure 13 years ago, a turbulent period in which the club has been overtaken by Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Carrick, a serial title-winner as a player under Ferguson, was appointed on a short-term deal midway through last season and guided the team to a third-place finish and Champions League qualification.
That earned him a long-term contract but things have unraveled quickly this season, with just three wins in all competitions, an eight-game winless run in the league and elimination from the English League Cup.
Top players Bruno Fernandes, the team captain, and Lisandro Martinez have also added to the sense of crisis with criticism of tactics and the club’s leadership, respectively.
“Michael is, and always will be, a Manchester United legend,” United said. "Just as he did as a player, he has conducted himself with the highest standards of dedication and professionalism throughout his time back with the club.
“His leadership and achievements last season will always be fondly remembered.”
Carrick took charge of training on Wednesday and was seen arriving at United's training ground on Thursday, before leaving soon after.
The firing of another manager will increase scrutiny on United’s ownership — the Glazer family in the United States and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, through his INEOS petrochemicals group.
Fans staged their latest protests against the owners during the Villa game, calling on them to sell the club.
“It is time for the owners to explain themselves and show some accountability,” the Manchester United Supporters' Trust said in a statement.
There is also increasing pressure on Berrada and Wilcox after another failed coaching appointment.
Since Ferguson, Champions League-winning coaches Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho have won cups at United but were ousted after failing to mount serious title challenges in the Premier League.
In recent years, highly rated and emerging coaches like Ten Hag and Ruben Amorim also failed to meet the club’s expectations, while former players in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Carrick have also come up short.
“The reason Manchester United fans have continued to support Michael Carrick in recent weeks is that they know that responsibility for United’s problems do not primarily rest with him or indeed his predecessors as manager. They lie with the ownership," the supporters' trust said. “The Glazers’ debt-funded takeover continues to burden the club. When INEOS came in they promised sporting excellence, but yet with repeated changes in football leadership we have seen anything but.”
AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed to this story.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
U.S. Men's National Soccer Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino walks on the pitch during practice, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Fayetteville, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
FORT RUCKER, Ala. (AP) — There's a scene in Melania Trump's documentary in which she enters the room as Donald Trump is rehearsing his inaugural address.
When he says the line about how “my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker,” she offers a quick, verbal edit.
“Peacemaker and unifier,” she tells her husband to say instead.
But Melania is the Trump who is credited with recently bringing peace, if only for six days, to one war-torn city in southern Ukraine — an unusual intervention into an active war by an American first lady. Two days after Republican losses in the midterm elections knocked the president out of the spotlight, Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian officials at the White House to celebrate the temporary ceasefire.
It's part of a burst of public activity by a first lady regarded as among the most private women to hold the role, and it comes just before the Nov. 20 release by Prime Video of “Melania: The Series,” a follow-up to the first lady's documentary from January.
On Thursday, the first lady headed to Alabama to address U.S. troops — her third big event since the election. It follows a trip to Louisiana last weekend to announce a multimillion-dollar private endowment to fund scholarships for college students once in foster care.
The first lady has made support for military families part of her portfolio. Her latest trip has taken her to Fort Rucker, an Army post in southern Alabama, with Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, a former Marine.
Before a backdrop that included a duo of Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, both women during the early Thanksgiving visit on Thursday thanked an assembly of hundreds of soldiers and their families for their service to the nation.
“The sacrifices of military families don’t make the headlines, but you are the foundation for the world’s most capable military,” Melania Trump said, urging Americans who will spend the holidays with loved ones to “take a moment to think of America’s service people.”
After their remarks, both women spoke with members of the crowd, pausing to shake hands and take photos.
Later, they would spend time with elementary students attending school on the base. Last year, both women marked the Thanksgiving season with a similar visit to Marine Corps members in North Carolina, thanking them for their service and recognizing the sacrifices their families make.
On Wednesday, they both accompanied their husbands to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, for the annual Veterans Day observance.
The White House announced in late October that the first lady had brokered a temporary ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine as it faced a starvation crisis. The pause gave time for about 800 people to leave the city and allowed for deliveries of humanitarian aid to those who chose to stay.
On Thursday, Usha Vance called the first lady "a powerful voice for peace." Last week, Melania Trump brought together at the White House officials from Russia and Ukraine who helped implement the ceasefire and talked about her role.
“I was involved in every stage of the planning," she said. "I reviewed demining plans, aerial images, assessed roadways and discussed evacuation routes, hospital access, vehicles and medical resources. I was made aware of the preferred dates and timing of the operation.”
She thanked the Russian and Ukrainian presidents for their cooperation and said Oleshky could be the model for peace between their countries.
“Let Oleshky be the modest spark that grows into a lasting flame of peace,” she said. This week U.S. officials held talks with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the United Arab Emirates, but there was no breakthrough.
After the White House announced her role, President Trump said his wife is “doing better than the professionals” on his team whose shuttle diplomacy between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has yet to bring the nearly 5-year-old war to a close.
Her work on Oleshky followed her outreach to Putin last year as she took on the matter of helping reunite children and families separated by the war. She so far has helped return nearly three dozen children to their families.
The first lady will head to New York City next week for the world premiere at Lincoln Center of “Melania: The Series.” The two new Prime Video episodes are billed as showing new aspects of her roles as wife, mother and first lady that weren't in her documentary.
The first lady described the episodes in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” as having “more conversation, one-on-one, with me.”
The episodes, which begin streaming Nov. 20, are supposed to include some surprises, too.
“There are some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before,” she said in the interview. “So it’s kind of exciting.”
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed from Columbia, S.C.
Follow the AP's coverage of Melania Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/melania-trump.
First lady Melania Trump, from right, hands letters written for the presidents of Ukraine and Russia to Davyd Arakhamia, lawmaker with President Zelenskyy's Servant of the People's party and Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, during a meeting with the first lady and Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
First lady Melania Trump announces a partnership with Louisiana State University to provide scholarships for students who were once in foster care, that will be awarded through her “Fostering the Future” program, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026,in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Annabelle Gordon/Pool via AP)
Second lady Usha Vance and first lady Melania Trump, center, attend an event to mark Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Second lady Usha Vance, left, and first lady Melania Trump, second from left, arrive for a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Second lady Usha Vance, left, and first lady Melania Trump arrive for a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
