Manchester United would have to fork out up to £6m in compensation to land Eddie Howe if they attempted to replace Michael Carrick with the former Newcastle manager.

Carrick left United’s Carrington training base shortly after 5pm on Wednesday with his future still hanging in the air after a day of top-level crisis talks among the Old Trafford hierarchy.

Howe is a leading contender for the post in the event that Carrick is sacked, but it has emerged that Newcastle would be in line for a hefty compensation package should United officials make a move for him.

The 48-year-old had a number of years left on his contract with Newcastle when he stepped down in July and it is thought the Tyneside club factored in a degree of protection in the event that he ended up at a rival in the months that followed. It is believed the compensation figure could be as much as £6m.

Telegraph Sport reported on Friday how Howe will listen to any approach from United although he will take some persuading to return to management so quickly after leaving Newcastle.

Former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is also of interest to United while Unai Emery and Fabian Hürzeler both have admirers at Old Trafford, but it would be costly and complicated to try to extract either from Aston Villa and Brighton respectively.

Antonio Conte, the former Chelsea and Spurs manager, and Kieran McKenna, who served as a first-team coach under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford and impressed at Ipswich, have also been linked.

United’s players and first-team staff were given a day off on Monday, but Carrick arrived at Carrington around 1.50pm to watch the under-21s side take on Hull City in a behind-closed-doors match in the club’s academy building.

Carrick watched the game, which finished 2-2 and featured a number of first-team Hull players needing minutes, in the company of his assistant Steve Holland, coach Travis Binnion and his former United team-mate Darren Fletcher, the club’s under-18 coach.

He is thought to have disappeared shortly before the game ended and was later pictured driving out of Carrington around 5.15pm with son Jacey, who plays in the academy.

Jason Wilcox, the United director of football, had driven away from Carrington about 15 minutes before then after being locked in crisis talks for much of the day with Omar Berrada, the chief executive, and other leadership figures. It is thought likely that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer, the co-owners, had been in communication via video link.

Wilcox and Berrada had arrived at Carrington shortly before 9am in a black Land Rover Defender and black Mercedes respectively.

Telegraph Sport reported on Monday morning how the club’s hierarchy had wanted to carefully and calmly weigh up all options before making a decision. If Carrick is sacked it means United would be looking to appoint a third manager this year. Ruben Amorim was sacked in January after 14 months in charge. United are set to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime.

Howe has been keen to take an extended break from the game to focus on his family and health. He left Newcastle partly because he was physically and mentally drained after four-and-a-half years on Tyneside.

He wanted to spend more time with his family on the south coast while prioritising his health and fitness. That break was expected to last several months and possibly longer.

Howe was taken to hospital with pneumonia in April 2025, a month after winning the Carabao Cup with Newcastle. Sources have told Telegraph Sport that he had not fully recovered from the illness when he returned to work last year and was still feeling physically jaded months later.

Carrick’s position is under serious threat after United slumped to a sixth defeat in 12 matches this season with Sunday’s shambolic 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth at Old Trafford leaving the club a point above the relegation zone.

Captain Bruno Fernandes was dropped after questioning Carrick’s tactics just four days earlier in the 4-1 drubbing by Como.

Bookmakers have suspended betting on Carrick, for whom recent days appear to have taken a heavy strain.

Carrick said on Sunday that he was in the dark over his future, but denied that he was saying farewell to fans with an emotional lap around the ground after the game.

Asked if he expects to be sacked, Carrick said: “I totally understand the situation. I’m not expecting anything either way.

“I’m carrying on as normal. I love this place. I’ll always do what I feel is going to be the best for the football club and I won’t change that now, whatever decision is made.

“It’s a tough situation, there’s no hiding from it. What it looks like and what’s next I really don’t know. I love what I do and I feel the responsibility – we’ll have to wait and see.

“I take responsibility. I respect the position that I’m in and the responsibility is mine. What else can I say really right now.”

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher both believe Carrick will lose his job. “It’s become untenable,” Carragher said on Sunday on Sky Sports. “Carrick wants to be changed. He doesn’t want to be sat in the dugout with those players. Can you imagine going into the training ground tomorrow with Bruno Fernandes after not bringing him on? He wants to be put out of his misery tonight.”

Neville, the former United captain, added: “It’s going to be ridiculously difficult for Carrick to be Manchester United manager moving forward. Those two [Berrada and Wilcox] are probably going to make a decision that will disgust Manchester United fans but is probably necessary. It’s just an absolute mess. The football club is a mess right now.”