Enzo Maresca responds after Man Utd ‘contact’ former Chelsea manager to replace Ruben Amorim

Enzo Maresca is interested in replacing Ruben Amorim as the manager of Manchester United, sources have told TEAMtalk, with the Italian having departed Chelsea on New Year’s Day, but the club’s director of football, Jason Wilcox, is not putting all his eggs in one basket.

Man Utd parted company with Amorim on Monday following his explosive comments about his role at Old Trafford after the 1-1 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road in the Premier League on Sunday.

Amorim said on Sunday: “I just want to say I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach.

“In every department – the scouting department, the sporting director – [they] need to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months, and then we move on.

“I just want to say that I’m going to be the manager of this team, not just the coach. I was really clear on that.

“That is going to finish in 18 months, and then everyone is going to move on. That was the deal. That is my job. Not to be a coach.”

In a quick turn of events, Man Utd have decided to part company with Amorim, with the club already making contact with one of the candidates to replace the Portuguese at Old Trafford.

We can reveal that Maresca’s camp, led by recently appointed super-agent Jorge Mendes, have already had contact with Man Utd as they assess their options.

Sources have told us that Maresca, who himself left Chelsea on January 1 after falling out with the Blues’ owners, is interested in taking charge at Old Trafford.

We understand Man Utd CEO Omar Berrada is an admirer of Maresca stemming back from their time together at Manchester City. Sporting director Jason Wilcox is also understood to be a fan and believes he has the right temperament to succeed under the Old Trafford spotlight.

Man Utd Under-18 head coach Darren Fletcher has been placed in charge of the first team for the Premier League game against Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday.

Sources have told us that Man Utd would consider keeping Fletcher until the summer if they thought that was the better way to address the managerial situation in the long term.

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Man Utd have THREE other options – sources

Despite Maresca’s willingness to get back into management and take charge of Man Utd, Wilcox is keeping his options open.

We understand that Wilcox already had a list of options should Amorim leave.

We revealed before Amorim got sacked that Michael Carrick is someone that the Man Utd hierarchy rate highly.

Carrick, a former Man Utd player, has previously been part of the coaching set-up at Old Trafford and could come in on an interim basis in the short term.

Sources have told us that former England manager Gareth Southgate is held in high regard by Man Utd co-owners INEOS, headed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

We can confirm that Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna is on Man Utd’s radar, too, though any move for the Northern Irishman is not considered a priority right now.

Wilcox and others at Man Utd are huge admirers of McKenna, who served as a coach at Old Trafford.

Ratcliffe and Berrada will be part of the process of hiring the next Man Utd manager, but the final decision will be Wilcox’s.

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Latest Man Utd transfer news: Man City steam ahead, attacker leaving for good

Meanwhile, sources have told our transfer correspondent, Dean Jones, that Manchester City are now ahead of Man Utd in the race for a top midfielder following the sacking of Ruben Amorim as the manager.

Man Utd are said to be ‘crazy’ about a winger, but he will cost an extraordinary amount in transfer fees.

And finally, Man Utd are ready to offload an attacker for good in the January transfer window.