Conte Denies Advanced Talks With Manchester United
- Suggested slug: conte-denies-advanced-man-utd-talks-carrick-future-october-2026
- Category: Sports News
- Focus keyphrase: Conte denies Manchester United talks
- SEO title: Conte Denies Advanced Talks With Manchester United
- Meta description: Antonio Conte says reports of advanced talks to replace Michael Carrick at Manchester United are unfounded; the club sit 13th in the Premier League.
- Tags: Antonio Conte, Manchester United, Michael Carrick, Premier League, football, Napoli, Champions League
- Original element: context — Carrick’s record (two wins in 11, the 4-1 Como thrashing and the public fallout with Bruno Fernandes) explaining why the rumours started; own-data cross-references to our United coverage
- Date: Friday, 2026-10-23
Former Chelsea and Napoli coach Antonio Conte on Friday denied reports that he was in advanced negotiations to replace Manchester United manager Michael Carrick.
Conte, who won the Premier League with Chelsea and managed Tottenham Hotspur, also denied the rumours that he had requested full control while also making financial demands of the struggling Old Trafford club.
“Unfounded”
“My name has been linked with numerous clubs, but there are currently no negotiations at an advanced stage,” Conte said in a statement.
“Following a wonderful and successful spell in charge of Napoli, I will take the time I need to consider how and when to return to management,” he added of his time in Naples, where he won Serie A in the 2024-25 season.
“It will be a carefully considered decision, one I will make when I believe the conditions are right.
“I have read reports of financial demands and requests for full control that I have supposedly already made to the clubs mentioned, as well as reservations about what has been described as my ‘strong personality’.
“These reports are unfounded, as there is currently no concrete basis for such assessments.”
Conte said that if a concrete opportunity arrives, he would enter talks with the club that approaches him and “jointly consider the terms of a potential agreement”, taking into account the needs of both parties.
“Until then, any assumptions about my demands and my professional future remain speculation and cannot be treated as fact,” the 57-year-old Italian added.
Conte last coached Napoli in the 2025-26 season, leaving after winning Serie A in 2024-25 and finishing second the following season.
Why the rumours started
United sit 13th in the Premier League and 20th in the Champions League after suffering a 4-1 thrashing by Italian side Como, increasing scrutiny on Carrick. The defeat was one of the most humiliating in the club’s recent European history — a loss to a modest Italian side that laid bare the gap between United’s spending and their performance.
Carrick is under immense pressure after going seven games without a win in all competitions and just two victories in 11 matches. Following the defeat against Como, skipper Bruno Fernandes questioned the manager’s tactics, with Carrick apologising for the performance.
The public exchange between captain and coach recalled the worst of United’s recent turmoil — the kind of visible fracture that has preceded every managerial change at Old Trafford in the post-Ferguson era.
Conte’s conditions
Speaking to The Athletic earlier this month, Conte said he would like to coach a club that has “lost sight of their history” so he can help “make it shine once more”.
That remark was widely read as an open door to the United job — a club that has cycled through managers without reclaiming its former standing. Conte’s denial on Friday shuts that door for now, but the wording leaves it ajar: if a “concrete opportunity” arrives, he will talk.
Conte’s stock remains high after his Napoli spell. He took the club to the Serie A title in 2024-25 and a second-place finish the season after, a record that keeps him on every shortlist when a big job opens. At 57, he is younger than several of Europe’s elite managers, and his intensity — the very “strong personality” he addressed in his statement — is seen by admirers as exactly what a drifting giant needs.
For Carrick, the denial changes little. Until results improve, the speculation will keep coming, whether or not Conte is actually in the frame.
