How Man Utd manager candidates Conte, Zidane, Rodgers and Ten Hag compare as successors to Solskjaer
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER'S days at Manchester United could be numbered - with a four-man shortlist already drawn up.
As SunSport exclusively revealed, Antonio Conte, Zinedine Zidane, Brendan Rodgers and Erik Ten Hag are the candidates for one of the biggest jobs in world football.
United were thumped 5-0 at home to big rivals Liverpool at the weekend - with the team's tactics and shape all over the place.
Fans flooded out well before the final whistle, seemingly sick of the current regime and wanting change.
Here, SunSport runs through how the awesome foursome compare, and the pros and cons of each.
ANTONIO CONTE
The only one of the four to have won the Premier League, with Chelsea in 2016/17.
The 52-year-old, who is currently out of work, has tasted success everywhere he goes, with his charismatic managerial style reflected on the pitch by striving to get the best out of every player.
But his disciplined coaching style has often ruffled the feathers of a few of his stars over the years.
At Chelsea, he clashed with Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, showing that perhaps sometimes he can let emotions get the better of him.
Clubs managed: Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta, Siena, Juventus, Italy, Chelsea, Inter Milan.
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ZINEDINE ZIDANE
The Frenchman is Real Madrid's second most successful coach EVER - not bad for someone who wasn't universally accepted as manager when he graduated from the club's B team in 2016.
As well as 11 trophies across his two spells in charge, Zidane's three Champions League triumphs make him that competitions' joint-most successful manager of all time.
But his time at the Bernabeu wound down pretty poorly. He managed to get the club to 76 points in LaLiga when finishing third - their worst haul since 2007.
And so gifted was the 49-year-old as a player, that there has always been the suggestion that he wants too much from those he now manages.
Clubs managed: Real Madrid II, Real Madrid.
BRENDAN RODGERS
Rodgers has managed to keep Leicester in the throngs of the Premier League title race since replacing the out-of-his-depth Claude Puel in February 2019.
He famously guided Liverpool to within a whisker of winning their first Premier League title for 23 years in 2013-14, finishing two points behind winners Manchester City.
That sucker-punch appeared to cloud his next two seasons at Anfield before the 48-year-old Northern Irishman was sacked in 2015 before then taking over at Celtic.
Rodgers' one-to-one management is what will set him apart on this list. Steven Gerrard once described how he 'makes you go out onto the pitch feeling a million dollars, full of confidence and self-belief'.
Clubs managed: Watford, Reading, Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic, Leicester.
ERIK TEN HAG
Perhaps the least well-known of the four managers but he has brought some terrific success to Ajax since being appointed in 2017.
Ten Hag also plays his football easy on the eye - giving prodigious talent their chance to nail down spots in the first team.
And importantly, he gets his teams to play a constant pressing game - something United clearly need to start doing soon.
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But despite the potential, questions will still be asked whether the 51-year-old would have the mettle to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Clubs managed: Go Ahead Eagles, Bayern Munich II, Utrecht, Ajax.
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