Arsenal legend Michael Thomas has thrown a real curveball into the list of candidates to take over at Manchester United if the axe falls on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
It appeared that Solskjaer had managed to steady the ship with a 3-0 win at Spurs. While Cristiano Ronaldo got him out of jail with  two gaols in the draw against Atalanta on Tuesday night, but an embarrassing 2-0 defeat at home in the Manchester derby has piled more pressure on the Norwegian with the 5-0 home defeat to Liverpool still lingering.
United’s public stance has always been to back the former Molde coach. However, in the wake of the heavy home defeat to Liverpool, Joel Glazer and managing director Richard Arnold discussed Solskjaer’s future.
The Guardian claimed executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Arnold were keen for Solskjaer to stay. Sir Alex Ferguson also lended his support to the under-fire boss.
The board though were believed to be split over a decision to axe Solskjaer, who signed a new deal over the summer to keep him at the helm until 2024. The decision was made to keep Solskjaer in situ, but just how long he stays there remains to be seen.
And Thomas, 54, thinks there are some very capable contenders waiting in the wings, including Luis Enrique.
“There is always Pochettino at PSG, and Zidane, who is currently on a break. One name I would also put strongly in the hat is Luis Enrique. He is a really top quality coach, and him going up against Pep and Klopp would be amazing to see,” Thomas told CaughtOffside.

“You never want to wish on a manager’s downfall. But United are not and haven’t been where they want to be for quite some time now. And that’s even with the massive investment they’ve been able to give to various managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

“Solskjaer hasn’t had an amazing start to the season. And I think if he fails to push the top three teams and win the FA Cup, you could see a lot of pressure building on him to be sacked.”
Enrique is currently the Spain national team’s coach. In June 2019, less than a year after taking over as Spain manager, Enrique announced he would be leaving for personal reasons.
It was later revealed that his daughter Xana had contracted bone cancer. And two months later, aged nine, she sadly passed away.
Now back in the post, whether the 51-year-old would leave for Old Trafford remains to be seen.