Manchester United Eye Antonio Conte but INEOS Back Carrick

Manchester United’s season is barely out of first gear and the speculation has already started to roar. In Italy, Antonio Conte’s name is back on the Old Trafford radar. In Manchester, the message from INEOS is very different: Michael Carrick stays.

Carrick, confirmed as permanent manager at the end of last season after steering United into the Champions League for the 2026/27 campaign, has stumbled out of the blocks domestically. Four Premier League games, four points. A start that grates at a club that measures itself in title tilts, not tepid openings.

The backdrop is obvious. United have already tasted early European encouragement, winning their first Champions League game of the season last week. But the league table, even at this stage, has stirred familiar doubts and, abroad, familiar rumours.

Conte at the top of the list

In Italy, Corriere della Sera report that United’s co-owners, INEOS, have identified former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte as their leading candidate should they decide to pull the plug on Carrick. SportWitness and CalcioMercato relay the same line: Conte sits at the top of a United shortlist, waiting in the wings if the axe falls.

He is available. Conte left Napoli at the end of last season and, at 57, is biding his time for what he sees as the right project to drag him back into club management.

His CV explains why his name never drifts far from any elite vacancy. Ten major trophies. A Premier League title with Chelsea in 2016/17. Three straight Serie A crowns with Juventus in 2012, 2013 and 2014. A Scudetto with Inter Milan in 2021. Another Italian championship with Napoli in 2025. Wherever he goes, the domestic landscape tends to shift.

For a club like United, still trying to reassert themselves at the summit, that kind of track record is irresistible headline fuel. One winless run, one awkward press conference, and the Conte talk writes itself.

INEOS’ message: not now

Yet the noise from Manchester cuts against the Italian narrative. According to Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, INEOS are not preparing a change. Not now.

“Man Utd absolutely remain convinced that the future will be bright under Michael Carrick,” Romano said, stressing that the ownership group still sees a clear path forward with the former midfielder in the dugout.

The summer window forms part of that context. United, Romano explained, had identified left-back as the one area they truly wanted to strengthen. They pushed. The right option never materialised. Rather than move for a body to appease critics or pad out a squad list, the club walked away.

“Utd didn’t want to sign just to say: ‘OK, we signed one,’” Romano said. The idea was targeted improvement, not noise. The cost, in the short term, may be felt in these early stumbles.

Even so, the stance is unwavering. “They maintain total faith and confidence in Michael Carrick,” Romano added. Four points from four games is “disappointing in terms of results”, but not enough to shake the belief inside the building.

Crucially, that belief is not one-sided. Carrick, Romano says, “remains absolutely convinced” that this squad can deliver across the coming weeks and months, particularly once the current break is out of the way and the season settles into its relentless rhythm. What he says in front of cameras – that United will do very well, that this team is good enough – is exactly what he repeats in private to the club.

So the picture is split. On one side, a serial winner in Conte, free, decorated and reportedly at the top of United’s list if a vacancy appears. On the other, an ownership group determined, for now, not to blink, and a manager adamant that the story of this season is still his to write.

The next run of fixtures will decide which version of Manchester United takes hold.