Gary Neville sends Mauricio Pochettino plea ahead of Manchester United appointment

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COMMENTSManchester United legend Gary Neville has urged incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino to “protect himself” by demanding reinforcements in the January transfer window.

The Red Devils finally look set to appoint the Argentine almost eight years on from first speaking to the former Tottenham boss about the top job at Old Trafford.

With United sat in the Premier League relegation zone after 10 games, Michael Carrick was sacked, paving the way for Pochettino to take over in the north west.

But Neville has issued a warning to the newest managerial appointment, claiming Pochettino must receive guarantees of investment in the next few transfer windows.

Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football, Neville said: “I’m sure Mauricio Pochettino is doing this, but if you were coming into this job now – you’ve talked about don’t believe an owner on the way in about what they’re going to spend, moving the goalposts – if I were Mauricio Pochettino now, I would literally be protecting myself to the high heaven.

“He’ll do that with the payoff. But secondly, he needs two defenders in January. So he’s got to insist that he gets two defenders in January.

“He’s got to insist that he gets a minimum budget next summer for the transfer window to be able to turn this around.”

United have largely restricted their major overhauls to summer transfer windows in recent seasons, attempting to improve their strikeforce in 2025 before bringing in midfield reinforcements this year.

The Red Devils have not signed a senior defender since Patrick Dorgu arrived at the club in January 2025, and Neville insists that the backline must be improved in the next transfer window.

“He’s got to insist that he gets a budget the following season,” Neville continued.

“He’s got to literally insist. They have to give it to him, otherwise he shouldn’t take the job. With that defence – and that midfield by the way, that midfield’s had some money spent on it – he’s got to insist on the way in that there’s some form of transfer control, that there’s some form of budget there that he knows he can meaningfully change the team.

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“I don’t think Mauricio is the type of manager either that would say ‘give me half a billion’. I don’t think he is that type of guy. I think he’s someone a bit more responsible and will look at things, and he’ll want to bring players through, and he’ll want to develop young players.

“I just think he needs to protect himself in the next 12 months with the transfer budget.

“The only time you can insist upon it is at the very beginning. They need two defenders in January – because if they have [Patrick] Dorgu at left-back, Mazaroui at right-back, and [Ayden] Heaven and [Leny] Yoro at centre-back, he will need to do a hell of a lot of coaching to get them up the league.”