Michael Carrick is set to be appointed as Manchester United’s interim manager.
Ineos are planning to hire Michael Carrick as interim Manchester United manager until the rest of the season.
Carrick has moved ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as United seek to navigate the tricky situation created by Ruben Amorim’s mid-season sacking.
Carrick previously worked as Manchester United assistant manager, before taking the caretaker job for three games in 2021.
He since had a spell as Middlesbrough manager in the Championship, and is now ready to answer United’s SOS.
Michael Carrick is the new favourite for the Man Utd interim job, are you happy with this?
Manchester United Coach Michael Carrick celebrates at the end of the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on December 2, 2021
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Bryan Mbeumo celebrates the 4-2 win during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford in 2025 in Manchester, England.
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Carrick praised three United players
During his spell out of management, Michael Carrick has also been working as an occasional pundit.
Carrick commented on Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United during the coach’s only three game winning run as manager, victories against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton.
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At this time, Carrick picked out three players he was impressed by, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes.
He explained: “I’ve kind of got a smile on my face because when you get that moment as a footballer, and you get a connection with somebody, and some say it’s a wavelength, and you almost play off instinct.
“I kind of put it as you almost play with a smile and say because you enjoy playing with each other, and it looks like they’ve [Cunha, Fernandes, Mbeumo] found that connection and two of them have just arrived in the summer, Bruno’s been there for a period of time.
“It’s not just them three, but it feels that there’s something really fun about the way they want to play.”
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Top priority will be recreating that connection
Michael Carrick’s top priority will be to recreate the exciting connection he saw from Cunha, Mbeumo and Fernandes that showed a flash of quality.
Bryan Mbeumo has been missing for the last month at AFCON, but is now set to return for the Manchester derby after Cameroon were eliminated from the competition.
Mbeumo and Cunha have played together a lot more infrequently than United hoped for, due to injuries and availability issues.
They had been on the pitch together for just 56 per cent of United’s total minutes this season before Mbeumo went to AFCON, and this number has dropped sharply since.
Carrick could profit from good fortune to have both available.
But he has to work out how to fit Mbeumo, Cunha and Fernandes into the same team, along with Amad, Benjamin Sesko and Mason Mount. Pleasing everybody won’t be possible.
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