Thomas Tuchel should have joined Manchester United when he had the chance, with the deal agreed between both parties.
That’s according to super-agent Pini Zahavi, via Sport 1, who believes the incoming England manager made a mistake not moving to Old Trafford.
Tuchel is set to start his reign as England manager in the new year after being announced as Gareth Southgate’s replacement last month.
It will be the first step into international management for the 51-year-old, who has certainly had a varied career to date.
He started at Augsburg and had various roles there before moving to Mainz, then Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
He had long been linked with a move to the Premier League before arriving at Chelsea in 2021 and was linked with the Manchester United job this summer as they considered Erik ten Hag’s future.
It wasn’t the first time they had been credited with an interest in the German manager and he likely would have been in the mix after Ten Hag’s departure if he hadn’t already signed with England.
Zahavi certainly would have liked to see him move to Manchester United and believes passing up on it earlier in his career was a mistake.
“If I were Thomas, I would have gone to Manchester United. He had the opportunity. Everything was prepared, the deal was basically dry,” he said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
“Thomas has a spark of genius in him. But in today’s football you have to be wise and a diplomat. He’ll have to learn that.”