Antonio Conte Linked to Manchester United Amid Support for Carrick
Manchester United’s season is barely out of first gear and already the managerial carousel is creaking into motion around Old Trafford.
Four points from four Premier League games have dragged an uneasy mood back over the club, the kind that never sits far below the surface these days. A Champions League win last week offered a brief clearing in the clouds, but not enough to silence the noise from Italy.
There, reports claim United’s new powerbrokers, INEOS, have drawn a bold red circle around one name: Antonio Conte.
Conte at the Top of the List
According to Corriere della Sera, relayed by outlets such as SportWitness and CalcioMercato, Conte has emerged as the leading candidate should United decide to move on from Michael Carrick.
The fit, on paper, is obvious. Conte is out of work after leaving Napoli at the end of last season, and at 57, he is not a coach searching for a job, but for a project. His CV gives him that luxury.
Ten major trophies. A Premier League title with Chelsea in 2016/17. Three straight Serie A crowns with Juventus in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The Scudetto with Inter Milan in 2021. Another Italian title with Napoli in 2025. Wherever he lands, the league table tends to tilt in his direction.
United, meanwhile, are wrestling with early-season stumbles under a manager still at the start of his career.
Carrick, appointed interim boss in January 2026 and then handed the job permanently after steering United to Champions League qualification for the 2026/27 campaign, walked into this season with credit in the bank and a clear mandate. But four points from four league games is a thin return at a club that measures everything against its own history.
That is why Conte’s name carries such weight when it appears alongside Manchester United. It suggests a reset. A jolt. A proven winner dropped into a team still learning how to win again.
INEOS Back Carrick – For Now
Yet inside the club, the message is very different.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, outlined the stance of INEOS and United’s hierarchy: they are not planning to sack Carrick now. No emergency meetings. No shortlists being activated. No imminent phone call to Conte.
Romano explained that United “absolutely remain convinced that the future will be bright under Michael Carrick” and that the club’s leadership still back the Englishman’s work and his direction for the squad.
One frustration they do acknowledge lies in the summer window. United wanted one more signing – specifically a left-back. They explored options, but refused to move for a player they did not fully believe in. The club, Romano said, did not want to “sign just to say: ‘OK, we signed one.’”
That restraint has left Carrick a body short, but not, in INEOS’ view, credibility short. Inside Old Trafford, the belief in him is described as “total faith and confidence.”
Carrick, for his part, mirrors that conviction. What he tells the cameras – that this team can do very well, that he is confident, that the squad is good enough – is exactly what he is telling the board behind closed doors. He sees a side that will grow into the season, particularly once the current break is behind them and the fixtures begin to stack up.
Pressure Building, But No Trigger Pulled
The reality, though, is simple. Four points from four games is not a platform; it is a warning light.
At a club of United’s scale, talk of Conte does not appear by accident. His track record, his availability, his reputation for imposing instant structure and demanding standards – all of it makes him the obvious name to hover over any struggling superclub.
For now, INEOS are holding their line. Carrick stays. The project continues. The board’s message is one of patience, not panic.
But patience at Manchester United has a habit of running on a shorter clock than anyone admits in public.
If the results do not turn quickly after the break, and if the league table still looks as uneasy as it does now, how long before Conte’s name moves from speculation in Italian print to a decision on an English desk?
