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As Manchester United's executive team ponders Erik Ten Hag's future, thoughts are already turning to potential replacements. Even if Ten Hag survives the October international break, he is by no means out of jail for a long-term stay at Old Trafford.

Co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer were heading a meeting at Ratcliffe's Knightsbridge offices in London on Tuesday when a decision on Ten Hag's immediate future was to be debated. United are 14th in the Premier League with just three wins from 11 games this season.

Ineos came close to dismissing Ten Hag in the summer, but an FA Cup final victory against Manchester City glossed over a dismal season. Potential replacements were discussed, including the out-of-work Thomas Tuchel, but Ten Hag got a reprieve and had the one-year option taken on his contract in July.

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This season has offered no improvement and little room for encouragement, however, and with Ten Hag's job back on the line Tuchel, who remains unemployed, is among those being considered as potential replacements. But would he be the right choice for United?

Pros

A trophy winner

Ten Hag has rarely failed to mention the trophies recently, whether the two he has won at Old Trafford or the eight he has won in six years dating back to his time at Ajax.

Tuchel can match him for silverware, however. He has three league titles across two countries, a couple of domestic cup triumphs, and, most importantly, a Champions League title secured when he was in charge of Chelsea.

He also claimed the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup while at Stamford Bridge and his record would suggest he is a proven winner.

Charismatic

It might seem churlish to mention it, but one area where Ten Hag has struggled at United is having the charisma required to manage a big club. The language barrier hasn't helped, but those who have worked closely with him in the Netherlands always said it was an area he wasn't a natural in.

That shouldn't matter but when the spotlight is as fierce as it is at United, it probably is important. Tuchel has no problems here. He can hold a room in German and English and is an excellent communicator. Ahead of the Champions League group stage fixture in Munich last season he spoke eloquently about the pressures of managing a club of the size of Bayern and United.

Big club experience

That brings us to another positive. The 51-year-old has plenty of 'big club' experience. Ten Hag had some of that with Ajax, but while they are always headline news in the Netherlands, these days they attract little attention across Europe.

Tuchel has Paris St-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich on his CV, and all three of those clubs are big news across the continent. He understands what is required to manage a club of that size, with that pressure and with the characters and ownership structures they have.

Cons

A difficult reputation

Tuchel's reputation precedes him when it comes to building working relationships with those in power above him. Even towards the end of his time at Bayern, he was falling out with honorary president Uli Hoeness.

Friction has never been far from the surface when it comes to Tuchel and the executives above him, and that goes against the collaborative structure Ineos wants to build at United.

Some will be concerned about how he would react to the football structure Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford have put in place.

Doesn't stay long

Tuchel has plenty of experience for a relatively young manager, but that is because he rarely lasts the course at any club he goes to.

He did last 184 games at Mainz, the second club on his resume, but since then, his time at the more elite clubs has ended relatively abruptly. That often comes back to those disagreements with people around him.

He lasted 107 games at Borussia Dortmund, 127 at PSG, 100 at Chelsea and now just 61 at Bayern Munich. It doesn't suggest someone likely to stick around for too long.

Does his CV stack up?

Tuchel's charisma keeps him in the frame for big jobs, and he is popular in the media because he is such a good talker. But has he had the success he should have had?

His two Ligue 1 titles with PSG are par for the course in Paris, so it's hard to judge those as anything special. His 2022/23 Bundesliga with Bayern owed everything to Dortmund's spectacular final-day collapse, when they failed to beat Mainz at home to secure the title.

The following season, Tuchel finally oversaw the end of Bayern's 11-year Bundesliga dominance, with Bayer Leverkusen stripping them of the title. Bayern ended up finishing third, and while they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, it was a desperately poor domestic season.

The 2021 Champions League title is easily the most impressive trophy on Tuchel's CV. Taking over in January, he oversaw knockout wins against Atletico Madrid, Porto, Real Madrid, and Manchester City.

But if there is any club liable to produce such unlikely success, it is Chelsea. They also won the Champions League when Roberto Di Matteo was their manager, and nobody suggests he should be the next United boss.