This coach turned down a $20 million salary to wait for a call from Man United

Manchester United are having a bad season. In the Premier League they had the worst start in the last 36 years and, despite having improved in the last few weeks, they are in seventh place in the standings and far behind leaders Arsenal. In addition, they were eliminated by Newcastle in the Carabao Cup round of 16. And in the Champions League, things have not gone any better for them: with 4 points, they are last in Group A and need a miracle to advance to the next stage.

So it is not surprising that coach Erik Ten Hag is being blamed as the main responsible for this failure. Many believe that the Dutch manager has made bad decisions, starting with the hiring of players who have not lived up to expectations, such as André Onana. They also criticize his strategies in certain matches and his relationship with the squad.

For weeks there have been rumors of a possible change of coach if the Red Devils do not improve. And several alternatives were mentioned, such as Graham Potter, Zinedine Zidane and Julen Lopetegui. The latter has not worked since May this year, when he left Wolverhampton. However, his good performances in previous seasons with other clubs make him a tempting option.

And it seems that he is so interested in the chance to join Manchester United that he is even willing to lose a fortune to achieve it. According to AS, Lopetegui turned down an impressive offer from Al-Ittihad. The Saudi Arabian side were willing to pay him a salary of almost $20 million per season, but he said no.

They chose a plan B

After Julen Lopetegui's rejection, Al-Ittihad looked for another coach to replace Nuno Espiritu Santo. And they finally chose Marcelo Gallardo. The Argentine manager will be in charge of leading Karim Benzema's team from now on.