Report: Manchester United hire a former Chelsea manager before deciding whether to fire Erik ten Hag.

A story says that Thomas Tuchel has been asked to consider taking over as manager of Manchester United from Erik ten Hag, who is under fire.

United officials are scheduled to get together on Tuesday for a meeting that was planned long before Ten Hag came under more heat. The boss’s future will likely be talked about in the days to come, though.

The Manchester Evening News says that United has named Tuchel as a possible replacement for Ten Hag. They first talked to the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager in the summer.

Before the decision to extend Ten Hag’s contract was made, he had some informal talks with Tuchel last summer during United’s post-season review. However, the German is still well-liked behind the scenes at Old Trafford and is ready to take over right away if the manager is fired.

There are other options that are also being admired, but the fact that they can hire Tuchel without having to negotiate a buy-out with another club is thought to help the 51-year-old.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a co-owner of United, talked to Tuchel in the summer but lately wouldn’t say if he still had faith in Ten Hag. He did say that he wasn’t in charge of making the final decision about the manager’s future, though.

CEO Omar Berrada and sports director Dan Ashworth will be put in charge of the situation instead. Their first day at United was in the summer, so they had nothing to do with the choice to keep Ten Hag.