Ex-Real Madrid boss well-positioned to take Manchester United job after rejecting €18m-per-year offer from Saudi: Reports

Former Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui is reportedly in pole position to replace Erik ten Hag at Manchester United after rejecting a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia.

Lopetegui, who managed Los Blancos for a while in 2018, is currently out of job after leaving his latest assignment at English club Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer.

Meanwhile, Ten Hag is under increased scrutiny after his team's 1-0 defeat to group winners Bayern Munich in their final UEFA Champions League group game on Tuesday (December 12).

United needed to beat the Bavarians and also the FC Copenhagen-Galatasaray game to end in a draw to sneak into the knockouts. A more realistic proposition was beating Bayern and resuming their European campaign in the UEFA Europa League.

Instead, Ten Hag's team looked bereft of ideas and inspiration as they succumbed to their 12th loss of the season across competitions, piling the pressure on the Dutchman.

Zach Lowry (via Relevo) has tweeted that Lopetegui is in line for the United job after rececting an €18 million annual offer from an unknown Saudi Arabian club to remain in Europe. He tweeted:

"Julen Lopetegui is well-positioned to become Manchester United’s new manager, per @relevo. A few weeks ago, he rejected an offer of €18m/year from a Saudi club as he wanted to remain in Europe."

With four points from six games, United finished bottom of their Champions League group, becoming the first English club to twice suffer the ignominy.

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"We didn't deserve to lose" - Manchester United boss after Bayern Munich defeat

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has bemoaned that individual mistakes put paid to his side's hopes of beating Bayern Munich in midweek.

Having lost 4-3 to the Bavarians in their campaign opener three months ago, United needed to win to book a place in the Europa League, at the very least. However, despite a bright start, the Premier League giants were undone by Kingsley Coman's 71st-minute opener.

“We didn't lose today in the Champions League, we lost it before," said Ten Hag (as per United's website). We have to acknowledge that.

"I think we’ve had some good performances but then also we made mistakes, individual errors from players. In the end, it’s not good enough. but I think, today, the performance was very good again, and we didn’t deserve to lose.”

United will hope to return to winning ways when they travel to Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday (December 17).