Pep Guardiola set to become United States' top target to replace Mauricio Pochettino as Manchester United close in

Pep Guardiola is set to be the United States' top target to replace Mauricio Pochettino, with the Argentine closing in on the Manchester United job. The former Manchester City boss came close to taking charge of Italy in the summer and has long been intrigued by working in America, having previously described the USA as "fascinating" for building a long-term project. United States set sights on Guardiola Pochettino is with his United States players ahead of their CONCACAF Nations League fixtures against Haiti this fortnight, but he is expected to join Manchester United once those games are over. United moved closer to appointing the former Tottenham and Chelsea boss after reaching a verbal agreement with him on Wednesday. That would leave the US needing a new head coach, and according to The Athletic , they will make Guardiola their top target. The Spaniard won the Champions League and six Premier League titles at City, having previously enjoyed huge success with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Guardiola came close to taking Italy job Guardiola has previously shown interest in moving into international football, and he came so close to becoming Italy manager in the summer that he was writing down line-ups before deciding against the role. Italian Football Federation technical director Paolo Maldini later resigned after a move to appoint Andrea Pirlo also collapsed because of his commercial links with a Russian betting company. Maldini told Corriere della Sera: "[Guardiola] is the coach who best embodies technical, attacking football. He had expressed the idea of wanting to coach a national team to some friends. We went to meet him in Barcelona, we had lunch together, we talked for an entire day. He was very tempted. He came very close to accepting. He even started writing line-ups down on sheets of paper." Guardiola intrigued by USA project Guardiola is reported to have spoken to officials at the US national team in the past and is intrigued by the idea of working in America, having lived briefly in New York after leaving Barcelona in 2012. He was said to have been approached in 2024 before Pochettino was appointed, and he wished his fellow coach well when he took the job. Guardiola said at the time: "I wish him and the USA - I have friends there - the best of luck. I know he's a top-class manager." He has also previously been quoted as saying: "The USA is fascinating to try and build a project for many years and being able to get the national team to the next step. The potential with the USA is there for the amount of people and sports and so on." What next for Manchester United and the USA? United chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox were in Monaco, where minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was expected to ratify their decision to sack Michael Carrick with the blessing of co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer. Carrick's departure could be confirmed on Thursday, but Pochettino's appointment may take a little longer, with more talks planned overnight. Once he completes his move to Old Trafford, the US will turn their attention to Guardiola.