Top 10 best available managers: Who could Man Utd target?

With the 2026-27 season fast approaching and pre-season preparations well underway, albeit limited by the World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada, triggering a later start to the domestic campaign, most clubs have now already appointed their managers. However, there are still many high-profile coaches without a club while new vacancies can arise at any moment.

Here are our picks for the top 10 best available managers heading into the new campaign.

Top 10 best available managers – Our picks

1) Zinedine Zidane

As strange as it sounds for a man with three UEFA Champions League (UCL) and two LaLiga titles on his managerial honour roll, Zinedine Zidane is still something of an unknown quantity for all but one club.  The Real Madrid job is such a unique one that it is hard to predict how he would fare in another environment.

Zidane’s greatest skill is his ability to manage big personalities in a colossal dressing room and keep them motivated—he reportedly left most of the coaching and tactical decision-making to his staff and extraordinarily gifted and experienced players. Zidane is part of an elite club of managers who have had enormous success on the pitch and in the dugout, ranking alongside the likes of Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer.

According to reports in France, some players in the senior men's national team, including superstar Kylian Mbappe, have grown fed up of head coach Didier Deschamps and his methods. They are pushing for French legend Zidane to replace him despite a three-year managerial absence.

More recent reports have claimed that Zidane has agreed to become the next head coach of France after Deschamps' tenure ends. The current manager of the national team has even approved of his next potential successor.

2) Jurgen Klopp

Currently RB Leipzig's sporting director, Jurgen Klopp could be tempted back into management after most recently managing Liverpool. He guided the Reds to both the Premier League and UCL title, establishing himself as one of the world's best.

Klopp also built a reputation of himself in his native Germany with Borussia Dortmund, also winning the Bundesliga title there ahead of serial winners Bayern Munich. Klopp had been linked with the permanent job at Real Madrid, however Los Blancos opted for Jose Mourinho to lead them into the 2026-27 term.

3) Xavi

Xavi is a relatively young manager compared to some of the others on this list, but that does not mean that he is not capable of taking another big job. Indeed, after winning multiple trophies in Qatar with Al-Sadd, he took on the role of managing his beloved boyhood club Barcelona.

Xavi won the LaLiga title and Spanish Super Cup in the 2022/23 season, but Barca struggled in the following campaign. Nonetheless, his progressive style of play should see him have plenty of suitors in the modern game.

After failing to convince Barcelona’s men in charge that he had what it takes to lead Barcelona forward, he was sacked, as German mastermind Hansi Flick took over. It’s been two years since Xavi last coached, but we are convinced his managerial days are far from over.

He has been linked with moves to Manchester United and Tottenham in recent months, but a move has not materialised as of yet. Given that Ruben Amorim has now lost his job, Xavi would more than likely be interested in the hot seat at Old Trafford.

4) Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca's falling out with the Chelsea board means he too is without a job. The Italian learned the ropes as the assistant to perhaps the greatest manager of all time in Pep Guardiola, before becoming manager of Leicester and then Chelsea.

Maresca guided the Foxes to promotion to the Premier League from the Championship, before winning both the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) and FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) at Stamford Bridge. He also helped the Blues get back into the UCL, and so would be a valuable asset to a lot of top clubs.

However, at the time of writing Maresca is widely expected to become Manchester City's new head coach to replace legendary outgoing boss Pep Guardiola. While the move is yet to be confirmed, it seems as though he will shortly be removed from the list of available managers.

5) Oliver Glasner

Oliver Glasner is certainly one of the standout and most impressive names on the current list thanks to his recent accomplishments with Crystal Palace before announcing his departure from the London club at the end of the 2025-26 season.

He enjoyed success in Germany before arriving in England, leading Eintracht Frankfurt to a Europa League title in 2022 and only enhanced his reputation at Selhurst Park, as the Eagles won the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2025, earning them entry into the Europa Conference League which they won in the final in May in Glasner's last act as boss.

With plenty of silverware and a track record of improving teams in England and Germany, Glasner is unlikely to be out of work for long and would be an attractive appointment for several top clubs across Europe.

6) Thiago Motta

Thiago Motta's time in the Juventus dugout proved short-lived, but that should not cancel out the reputation he had built beforehand. The former Italy international guided Bologna into the Champions League with a fifth-placed finish and a highly regarded style of play earning praise for Motta as one of the most promising young European coaches.

While his time in Turin ended sooner than expected, Motta should remain one of the most sought-after unemployed managers and should receive another opportunity at the top level.

7) Edin Terzic

Relatively high on this list is Edin Terzic, who left his post as Borussia Dortmund boss in the summer of 2025 after guiding them to the most 2024 UCL final, where they lost out 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium. He was also unlucky not to win the Bundesliga title in the 2022/23 season, being pipped by Bayern Munich on the final day

Yes, winning trophies is arguably the most important thing in football, but Terzic was so close on both occasions. To even compete with the likes of Real and Bayern, who are bigger clubs with much greater finances than Dortmund, is a testament to how good of a coach he is, as he gets the best out of his players more often than not.

His credentials had seen him linked with the Manchester United job, before Ruben Amorim was confirmed to take the reins at Old Trafford, while he was also reportedly close to becoming the Tottenham boss.

8) Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou was sacked by two different managers in the space of four months, with Tottenham letting him go in the summer before Nottingham Forest fired him after just eight matches in charge. Despite that, Postceoglou is an attractive proposition, due to his record when it comes to winning trophies – it was only last May that he ended Tottenham's trophy drought by leading them to UEFA Europa League (UEL) glory.

9) Lucien Favre

Lucien Favre remains one of the most experienced top-level managers currently without a club. The Swiss coach has enjoyed productive spells with Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Monchengladbach and Nice, earning a reputation for attractive, attacking football.

Although he has been out of the dugout for some time, Favre's tactical intelligence and track record at the top level still make him a good option for top clubs across the continent.

10) Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate left his post as England manager after eight years in July 2024, doing so on a losing note, as the Three Lions fell to a 2-1 defeat to Spain in the UEFA European Championship final. England did not play particularly well throughout the tournament, but still managed to reach the final.

Although no silverware was forthcoming, that is a testament to Southgate's credentials and provides a solid reason that Manchester United strongly considered appointing Southgate before restoring their faith in Ten Hag for the start of the 2024/25 season. FA Cup winners Crystal Palace will also reportedly consider Southgate when Oliver Glasner expectedly leaves at the end of the 2025/26 season, as the Austrian has been linked with a potential return to Germany with RB Leipzig and also other jobs in the Premier League.