Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on rumours that Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler could replace Michael Carrick as Man Utd head coach.

After guiding them to a third-placed finish last season in the Premier League and achieving qualification for the Champions League, Carrick has been unable to get the best out of his side so far this term.

Man Utd have won just one of their six Premier League fixtures to date with Carrick’s men taking six points from a possible 18 so far.

The Red Devils were criticised for their performance in their 1-1 draw against ten-man Tottenham last weekend, which could have seen them lose if Spurs had taken their numerous chances.

A 2-0 defeat in midweek to Atletico Madrid drew more criticism, while Lisandro Martinez caused controversy by coming out in his post-match interview and criticising the Man Utd board for not backing Carrick over the summer.

Carrick’s poor start to the new campaign has seen rumours that Brighton boss Hurzeler or former Tottenham and Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte could replace him.

Addressing rumours of Hurzeler taking over at Man Utd, Romano said on his YouTube channel: “I wanted to answer some of your questions received over the last 48 hours, let’s say after the Atletico Madrid game, regarding Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of Brighton, strongly linked with Manchester United.

“First of all, Fabian Hurzeler, who is a very young and very talented coach, doing fantastic this season at Brighton. Don’t forget how young is this guy and is doing very very well at Brighton.

“Why these links? Because there is one specific person in the Manchester United leadership group, in the Manchester United board, who really appreciates Fabian Hurzeler. So there is one person bringing this name to the conversation when they talk about the managerial situation, when they talk about talented managers.

Three other managers in the conversation if Man Utd job comes up – Romano

“So this is why this name is going around for Manchester United, because there is someone on the board mentioning his name. But let me say, first of all no contacts, second no direct talks. Third, Manchester United, as of today, are not negotiating with any other coach in general because Man United are still backing and trusting Michael Carrick.

“Fourth, and an important point, this is not the only name that is coming to the conversations. When there are internal conversations regarding managers and more, there are more names being mentioned internally.

“For example, as I told you already in a video, Man United know very well that Antonio Conte could be open this season to take a job mid-season, which is a big difference compared to many other years when Antonio Conte didn’t want to take a job during the season.

“Just to give you an example, there are coaches available now for a top job like Man Utd, could be Julian Nagelsmann, could be Eddie Howe, for sure there would be several candidates. This was just to put some context to the Fabian Hurzeler links.”