Ben Foster and Lee Sharpe did not see eye to eye over a tried-and-tested manager who could succeed Ruben Amorim as the next Manchester United head coach.
Ruben Amorim was sacked as Manchester United manager on Monday morning after the Red Devils’ 1-1 Premier League result against Leeds United at Elland Road.
With Ruben Amorim SACKED, where will Manchester United finish in 2025/26?
Let's see your predictions!
The 40-year-old former United manager had been at Old Trafford for only 14 months, having arrived from Sporting CP in 2024 to succeed Erik ten Hag.
However, Amorim has become the latest — and sixth — United head coach to be dismissed in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era at the Premier League club.
Amorim exited United with the Premier League side in sixth place in the table, with the Red Devils winning eight of their 20 league matches so far this season.
Ben Foster’s stance on Aston Villa manager Unai Emery amid Man Utd’s hunt for a Ruben Amorim replacement
Manchester United are not expected to hire a new permanent successor to Ruben Amorim until the end of the 2025-26 Premier League season.
Darren Fletcher was appointed caretaker manager in the aftermath of Amorim’s sacking at United and will take charge for the Burnley match on Wednesday.
United are also tipped to appoint an interim head coach until the end of the campaign, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick both linked with the club.
Speaking on his podcast, Ben Foster argued that Aston Villa manager Unai Emery would not be the right fit for the vacant United head coach role this summer.
How will YOU remember Ruben Amorim? What is his LEGACY at Man Utd?
“Yeah, I think he stays at Villa,” he said on Fozcast.
“I don’t think he would want to leave Villa. I think it’s the perfect fit for Unai Emery.
“I think it is; the Man United job is too much, I think, for Emery. I think it’s too much. I think he is perfect for [Villa].”
Foster added: “So, in my eyes, right, you have the best managers in the world.
“And for me, they’ve always been your Peps [Pep Guardiola], probably your [Jurgen] Klopp and your Fergie, yeah? The best manager [Arsene] Wenger. Wenger.
“And then just underneath that, who are probably a few per cent behind, you’ve got all the other ones who are brilliant, unbelievable, world-class manager[s].
“[Jose] Mourinho is in that top bit as well. And I think Unai Emery is just in that little bracket [below]. And I think this Man United job is just too much.”
What did former Man Utd star Lee Sharpe say about Unai Emery amid Ben Foster’s analysis of the Aston Villa head coach?
Unai Emery has been linked with United in the past and the former Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain manager has been widely hailed for his impact at Villa Park.
Former winger Lee Sharpe waxed lyrical about the 54-year-old Spaniard and believes that Emery’s resume speaks volumes about his experience for the United role.
Ruben Amorim’s BIGGEST MISTAKE at Manchester United was ________________
✍️ Fill in the blank…
“There’s a lot of decent names out there, there will be even more at the end of the season, but my number one — and I do apologise being a Villa fan — would be Unai Emery,” he told BeIN Sports USA.
“I think he had a great spell at Arsenal and should have been left there to carry on, and with time, he would’ve been a massive success. What he’s done at Villa has been sensational.
“I think he’s a class act, he talks well, he gets his teams playing well, he gets individual improvement, he would be my number one choice.”
Emery has been at Villa Park since 2022 after he left La Liga outfit Villarreal and made his sensational return to England with Premier League side Villa.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
