Lee Sharps backs Unai Emery to replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United but dismisses Gareth Southgate links

Erik ten Hag is under huge pressure at Manchester United (Picture: Getty)

Lee Sharps has backed Unai Emery to replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United but dismissed speculation linking Gareth Southgate to the job.

Huge questions remain over Ten Hag’s long-term future at Old Trafford and anything less than success in the FA Cup may cost him his job.

United are heavy favourites to reach the final ahead of this weekend’s semi-final meeting with Championship side Coventry City, but either Premier League champions Manchester City or resurgent Chelsea await in the final.

Manchester United have not won since the international break, dropping points at Brentford and Bournemouth and conceding two injury-time goals to lose to Chelsea.

The Red Devils did manage to avoid defeat against arch-rivals Liverpool but it was another unconvincing performance from a side sitting just seventh in the Premier League.

United will need to make a decision over whether to stick with Ten Hag or go in another direction and if the latter materialises, Sharpe believes Emery would be a ‘class’ replacement for the Dutchman.

Emery struggled in his first Premier League job at Arsenal but has taken Aston Villa from the bottom-half of the table to the Champions League spots since arriving in Birmingham at the end of 2022.

Aston Villa have climbed up the table under Unai Emery (Picture: Getty)

‘If I were choosing and Erik ten Hag was to go, Unai Emery would be at the top of my list,’ Sharpe, who won three Premier League titles at Manchester United, told DAZN.

‘I think given the support and the full backing, he could replicate what he’s done at Villa. I think he’d be a class manager for United.’

Current England manager Southgate has also been linked with the Old Trafford job but Sharpe fears that would be a bad move for both parties.

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Southgate will look to end England men’s wait for a major trophy at this summer’s Euros and it is difficult to see how he would remain in charge if the Three Lions lift the trophy or disappoint in Germany.

‘I don’t think Gareth Southgate is a Man United manager,’ added Sharpe, who made more than 200 appearances for the Red Devils during the 1990s.

‘I’m not sure he’d want it, given the position and the state that the club is in at the moment. It’s not something where you come in and somebody’s already made a success of it and you just come in and keep it rolling on.

‘It’s a rebuild and it’s going to take a while to get it where the club and where the supporters want it to be.

‘I think it would be a very awkward job for Gareth. To come out of England and be given all the players that he gets to choose from now and to come to United and not have such good players and that continuity, I think it would be a tricky one for him.

‘I wouldn’t go with Southgate, no. I think he’s a bit too conservative and negative for Man United.’

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