Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is clearly planning on being in charge of Manchester United next season.
The Norwegian coach has won all eight of his games to kick off his caretaker reign at Old Trafford in sensational fashion, and although no decision on appointing a permanent United boss is expected before the end of the season he’s dropped another hint about his ambitions to stick around.
Speaking to the media ahead of United’s clash against Burnley on Tuesday (Watch live, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com), Solskjaer revealed he is planning for the future.
“What Manchester United are going to look like next season with or without me, it doesn’t matter, I’m here to prepare for next season,” Solskjaer said. “We have quite a few talents in that youth team that you’d like to see [in the side] and [you] will see at some point before next season to put the club and team in a good position [for] how will we look like next season: Mason, Jimmy, Ethan – it’s just about the right time. But we’ve got Alexis [Sánchez], Juan Mata, and Romelu Lukaku who haven’t played so much lately, they’re three players you have to jump ahead of.”
Solskjaer added that he doesn’t expect any incomings during the final days of the January transfer window and that he isn’t keen to lose any players either.
His honesty is refreshing, and it is crystal clear he wants the job on a permanent basis.
What does he have to do to get it?
1) Keep winning games and 2) continue to get the best out of Paul Pogba and others to prove he can turn United into an attacking, attractive team to watch. And that is pretty much it.
Even if Solskjaer does succeed in doing the above two things, he still might not get the job permanently. The fact that Mauricio Pochettino is going more frustrated by the day at Tottenham underlines that the Argentine could be tempted away from his role at Spurs a little easier than we previously thought.
That said, if Solskjaer gets United into the top four at the end of this season and has a deep run in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, why shouldn’t he be handed the reins? The only small stumbling block is that he already has a job with Molde in Norway, but it is believed there is a clause in the deal they struck with United which sees them paid a certain amount in compensation if Solskjaer gets the job on a permanent basis.
He has done everything he can do so far, and is saying all of the right things to make sure he is around beyond May 2019.
