MANCHESTER UNITED have taken a £10million gamble in appointing Mauricio Pochettino — and it will be fascinating to watch.

This is one last shot for Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada, who have cocked up almost every big call they have made without being held to account by the owners.

Pochettino departs America, where I am based, with very little outcry from fans here that he is leaving.

But as he heads over the Atlantic on his jet in the next few days, picking over the squad with his staff there will be one overriding thought: ‘Holy f***, we’ve got a lot of work to do’.

I played against Pochettino’s Tottenham team, one of the hardest games each year for us in the Premier League. They had quality in bundles, but also togetherness, depth and — above all — intensity.

Getting that out of this Manchester United squad feels nearly impossible, which is why the biggest question is whether Pochettino and United are actually a good fit.

The Argentine is known across football for working his players hard, right to the edge — getting them fit as a fiddle but sometimes making them physically sick.

And here he is faced with a group who cannot seem to stay fit.

Carlos Baleba has arrived and broken down, Harry Maguire comes off constantly and Luke Shaw — who Pochettino was like a father to at Southampton — can no longer be relied upon. That relationship will be different now he’s plagued by injuries.

Even further forward, big signings like Benjamin Sesko — he is never around and has knees as reliable as mine!

These players are about to get the biggest volley up the backside they have ever experienced — and I doubt they will be able to handle it.

You look at the team he built at Spurs, with Moussa Dembele, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. Can anyone in this United squad match or replicate their skill set? No.

But beyond a huge squad rebuild and a lack of quality, we all know the underlying problem at Old Trafford.

We have enough evidence now to know Jose Mourinho cannot be wrong, Louis van Gaal cannot be wrong. Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim all saw it.

Poch must go in and take a huge sledgehammer to the toxic Carrington culture, accepting that things are not good enough.

Managers and those above need to stop fiddling around the edges and tackle the big problem, otherwise there will be no progress.

United supporters might not like it, but Arsenal have shown the way and offered the blueprint. Rather than repeating what has failed, they must make a brave change. Someone big has to go, even if it means short-term pain.

Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were pushed out for the benefit of everyone.

They were good players but carried a stink with them around the place.

Cut them out and everyone else can breathe, focus in training and start growing.

For the Red Devils, that has to be someone like skipper Bruno Fernandes or, once again, Marcus Rashford.

They cannot move on players like Jadon Sancho or Tyrell Malacia any more — no one really cares about them.

I can guarantee it now, Rashford will suddenly be fit for the Liverpool game. He will see a new manager who likes energy and pace, he will think he can do all that.

He might even start well, get a few games, but then Pochettino will ask for more and he will not like it.

Then all the bad traits will come back — he’ll be out and about and late for training all over again. The cycle begins and the damage returns.

Pochettino must make a statement, give these players until January to prove they are on board or get rid.

He has to set standards for everyone else to follow. The big challenge is, he must win alongside doing that.

The former Chelsea chief feels like a halfway house between the two other standout candidates, Eddie Howe and Antonio Conte.

He has the tactical acumen and man-management of Howe, with the edge of Conte, without the risk that he will bring the house of cards down with a tantrum.

That feels like a smart route for United to go down in one sense, but he remains a gamble, seven years since he saw real success in the Premier League.

It will, as always at Old Trafford, be quite the ride.