Peter Schmeichel believes Thomas Tuchel has the "kind of pedigree" to manage Manchester United if Erik ten Hag was to be sacked at the end of the season.

Ten Hag is under increased pressure at the Red Devils over their inconsistent form this campaign. The 1-1 draw at home to Burnley on Saturday did little to help his cause, leaving United sixth in the Premier League table, a mammoth 13 points behind fourth-place Aston Villa.

With the long-term future of Ten Hag uncertain, Tuchel is among the potential candidates to take over should United pull the trigger on their current head coach. The German is set to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season and he is not expected to be short of offers.

In fact, reports circulated last week that United had even made contact with Tuchel over the prospect of returning to the Premier League, a little under two years since departing Chelsea.

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"I like Thomas Tuchel. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him a couple of times and his football knowledge is fantastic," ex-United goalkeeper Schmeichel told beIN Sports.

"He's been a little bit unlucky with being at two big football clubs at the wrong time of their history, at times where things weren’t working on every level. It's not that he didn't do well Chelsea, for instance. I mean, he won the Champions League, didn't he?!

"I just like him, there’s something about him. He projects an authority. Never compare people but he's got the same kind of thing that [Jurgen] Klopp has. You know he's the boss and you know what he's doing."

Thomas Tuchel has been linked with replacing Erik ten Hag at Manchester United (
Image:
Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

When asked about whether Tuchel is the type of person who would slot into the United culture, Schmeichel replied: "I'm not going to go there! There's no way. I know it's speculative… no, I'm not!"

However, Schmeichel was then pressed by host Richard Keys for an answer, to which he continued: "If Manchester United were in the market for a manager then he should be somebody mentioned in that respect. He should be.

"He has that kind of pedigree, he's got the authority, he's proven he can win which I think is really important. He doesn't come with a set system, 'This is how our football is being played'… yeah, of course, he's a big-club manager, isn't he?"

Bayern have largely underperformed under Tuchel this season. The German giants have not won the Bundesliga title for the first time in 11 years and crashed out of the DFB-Pokal in the second round. However, Bayern can still end positively by winning the Champions League - they face Real Madrid in the semi-final.

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