Mauricio Pochettino will rely on a brutal fitness test to raise stamina levels at Manchester United, and a report has highlighted one player in particular who’s in for a rude awakening.

Man Utd sacked Michael Carrick on Thursday morning, and an agreement to hire Mauricio Pochettino as his successor has already been struck.

United will pay US Soccer $10m via a release clause. The overall cost of hiring Pochettino’s staff will raise the bill by a further $2m.

The Argentine is expected to remain in charge of the USMNT for their double-header with Haiti in the international break.

But once he’s set foot in Manchester, the Sun state he’ll waste no time putting United’s work-shy players through their paces.

The Red Devils place towards the very bottom of the running stats this season, while the athleticism of two of the three midfielders signed over the summer – Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos – remains in serious doubt.

What’s more, when speaking to Rio Ferdinand in pre-season, a grinning Tielemans appeared to revel in getting an easy ride from Carrick upon returning from international duty at the World Cup.

Asked if he and his teammates had done “loads of running” in pre-season, a delighted Tielemans replied: “No. When you come back from the World Cup, you don’t do lots of running. Just chill.”

Ferdinand was visibly stunned by the response, and could only blurt out a bemused “what?”

Pochettino to crack down on lazy Man Utd players

But per the Sun, Pochettino will work his players hard and rely on the trusted ‘Gacon test’, which pushes players to breaking point.

The report explained: ‘Poch is known for his belief in working his players extremely hard, both in pre-season and during the campaign, to ensure they are in peak physical condition.’

They added: ‘Pochettino’s relentless methods – which include the knackering ‘Gacon test’ – could have quite the impact on the current United squad, given their apparent lack of running under Carrick during pre-season.’

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The Gacon test is, as the Sun put it, ‘an intermittent shuttle run that is painfully familiar to any Spurs player who worked under Poch.

‘The task involves running a distance which increases with every stage but the time to complete each stage stays the same at 45 seconds.

‘To complete the whole distance means running a total 5,000metres in 25 stages – but few players manage to make it that far.’