Neville and Meulensteen Back Ancelotti as United's Dream Summer Appointment

The hunt is on for Manchester United's next permanent manager, and two voices with deep roots at Old Trafford have zeroed in on the same target: Carlo Ancelotti.

Michael Carrick has stepped into the breach following Ruben Amorim's departure, holding the fort until the summer when INEOS will make their move for a long-term solution. Names circulating include Luis Enrique, Roberto De Zerbi, and Xabi Alonso—the latter having recently left Real Madrid—yet both Neville and Meulensteen believe Ancelotti represents the standout choice.

Rene Meulensteen, who coached under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2007 and 2013, is convinced of Ancelotti's credentials. "Carlo Ancelotti is the guy with the type of pedigree who can handle it because he's done it, he's seen it and he knows what a winning culture looks like," Meulensteen explained. "I don't think Ancelotti would listen to anybody else. Ancelotti would say this is what I'm doing. I'm managing what I'm here to do. They obviously weren't aligned. He had different ideas about how it should be run than people in the background."

Currently steering Brazil through the World Cup, Ancelotti has no commitments beyond this summer's tournament, leaving the door open for a move to Manchester.

Neville has gone further, laying out a blueprint for what the next manager must achieve. Writing in the Overlap newsletter, the former defender identified four critical boxes to tick:

First comes the ability to navigate the relentless media spotlight and institutional noise that accompanies the role. "It is what it is, so get over it and deal with it. It's why you're getting paid the big bucks," Neville noted.

Second is proven capability in securing Champions League football and extracting maximum performance from squads brimming with talent and outsized egos. The Premier League's competitive nature demands this.

Third requires a genuine understanding of English football culture and how it differs fundamentally from continental competition.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, the successful candidate must embody the Manchester United philosophy—embracing optimism, calculated risk-taking, and attacking football. "You have to be a glass-half-full kind of manager. Be positive and prepared to take risks and play with pace and excitement," Neville explained. "In all likelihood that is going to a variation of 4-4-1-1 / 4-2-3-1."

Ancelotti, in Neville's assessment, stands alone in satisfying all four demands. "You have got to be pretty special to tick all four of those boxes and, as such, the outstanding candidate for me would be Carlo Ancelotti, even if it would mean potentially delaying his arrival until late July if Brazil reached the World Cup final."

There's a tantalising footnote to this narrative. United actually held talks with Ancelotti in 2013, shortly before Ferguson's retirement. Had that conversation borne fruit, the club might have avoided the managerial turbulence of the past dozen years. Instead, Ancelotti's imminent move to Real Madrid meant the moment slipped away—a what-might-have-been that haunts Old Trafford to this day.