Pochettino to sign two-and-a-half-year Manchester United deal; Fernandes rejects second contract offer: football

BREAKING: Mauricio Pochettino set to sign a two-and-a-half-year deal to become Manchester United manager, as captain Bruno Fernandes rejects a second contract offer from the club.

Manchester United are hiring Mauricio Pochettino, today, on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

He's walking out on the United States national team to do it, and United are paying seven million pounds in compensation to get him. There he is, already looking at home in training gear. Michael Carrick and his entire backroom staff were sacked on Thursday, and Pochettino is expected to bring his own trusted people with him to Old Trafford.

But the day's real tremor is the captain. Bruno Fernandes has rejected a second contract offer from the club. His deal runs out at the end of the season, United hold an option for one more year, and if they don't trigger it, he's free to talk to clubs abroad. So the new manager arrives to find his best player halfway out the door.

Pochettino's first job isn't tactics. It's keeping Bruno in the building.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.