The vultures are beginning to circle around Michael Carrick at Manchester United, with a 2-0 midweek defeat to Atletico Madrid compounding the misery of conceding late against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.

The Red Devils travel to a Leeds United outfit who have impressed so far this season on Sunday afternoon and failure to pick up all three points will fan the flames of rumours suggesting Carrick may be on borrowed time at Man Utd.

One of the candidates who could replace the former midfielder is Antonio Conte, a man who is no stranger to the Premier League. The Italian has walked into dire situations before, and Man Utd already know what he would bring to the club.

What Antonio Conte would bring to Man Utd

When Conte arrived at Tottenham Hotspur in November 2021, Nuno Espirito Santo had been given his marching orders after losing five of their opening 10 Premier League fixtures.

The Italian arrived in North London tasked with finding consistency, as he would be at Old Trafford. One of Conte's first priorities was to boost fitness and take emotion out of decisions.

He said:

“This squad has to work to improve their physical condition to go into my idea of football; to have more order on the pitch and to not be so emotional during the game, and also to improve the capacity to suffer.

"At the moment we've only to be strong, to start to work together and think that we need to improve. And there's a lot of space for improvement in this team. But now, and more than in the past, after three or four days, we need to work more."

Man Utd could do with that. Against Tottenham, several first team stars were slammed by pundits for their work rate and it was an emotional reaction from Red Devils stars to a challenge on Luke Shaw that ultimately revved up Roberto De Zerbi's side.

Conte also spoke about the need for a 'winning mentality'. That's something all managers will hope for at a club but his words certainly point to a zero tolerance for debacles such as Lisandro Martinez's interview in midweek.

Conte said: "It is not easy because you have to work every day and you have to breathe a winning mentality every day.

"It is impossible to invent, it is impossible to pay because it doesn't cost money for a winning mentality but I think you have to take the right people to bring this into the club. You must start every day with this type of mentality.

Antonio Conte v Michael Carrick Premier League managerial record

"You must start to think football for many hours in your life to improve the desire to win, to start to think, 'OK, I want to win but I know that it means sacrifice, it means to suffer, it means to work very hard'."

Where Martinez looked to take excuses public, it's exactly the sort of behaviour that Conte would stamp out in searching for a mentality change.

While Conte's no-nonsense managerial style could prove the rocket that Man Utd need, it would come with a risk. The Italian has had several high profile fallouts in his career and more controversy is not what is needed at the Theatre of Dreams.

One thing is for sure, Man Utd know what they would get in the charismatic Conte.