Antonio Conte has been ‘sounded out’ about taking charge of Manchester United if they part company with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, talkSPORT understands.
The United board are weighing up whether they need to make a managerial change in the wake of their 5-0 hammering at home to arch rivals Liverpool.
Former Chelsea boss Conte is believed to be keen on a return to English football having left Inter Milan at the end of last season after leading them to Serie A glory.
Man United could now give him that opportunity with initial contact made as they weigh up Solskjaer’s future ahead of Saturday’s clash at Tottenham, which is live on talkSPORT.
Managing director Richard Arnold understood to have cancelled all appointments on Monday to hold crunch talks with owner Joel Glazer.
It came following what Solskjaer described as one of his ‘darkest days’ in football as United suffered their heaviest ever defeat to Liverpool.
Solskjaer has been in charge since 2018 but has yet to win a trophy with the club.
Man United signed Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer and Solskjaer was handed a new three-year contract.
But United have made a woeful start to the season, having fallen away in the title race as well as losing to West Ham in the Carabao Cup.
United have lost three of their nine games this season and Sunday’s defeat to Liverpool has left them eight points off the top already.
Conte is a serial winner who has won trophies everywhere he has managed.
He won three Serie A titles as Juventus boss and enjoyed a successful two seasons at Chelsea, having taken them from tenth to Premier League champions in his first season.
He won the FA Cup with them a year later and went on to lead Inter Milan to title glory in his next job, which ended in May over a dispute with the club’s owners about recruitment.
Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag and Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers – the former Liverpool boss – are other potential candidates for the United job if Solskjaer does go.